Chapter 39 Earth to Cassie
THE FIFTH ELEMENT 🌊🔥🌪️⛰️☯️
🌊
~Cassie’s POV ~
Oh no.
Damon wasn’t alone.
He was locked in brutal combat with one of those monsters. All by himself.
I didn’t know how to help him. I could only watch, frozen, as he battled the creature in the flickering, artificial light of the simulation.
He kept sending thin, concentrated waves of water at the monster, each one hitting its chest and slowing it down, buying him seconds. The water hissed where it touched the monster’s charred skin.
I decided to snap back to full consciousness to tell the others. But just before I pulled away, I saw it— the water jetting from Damon’s hands shimmered, crystallizing mid-air into a whitish, sharp edged spear.
Ice. It was made of ice.
I gasped and my eyes flew open. Two pairs of eyes were staring down at me.
"Cassie? Are you okay? Did you succeed? Did you find any of them? Are you dizzy?" Jake fired questions at me, his voice tight with worry.
The world spun. Their voices echoed in my ears, too loud, too close. My head felt stuffed with cotton.
"Cassie? Hello?" Madeleine waved her hand in front of my face, fingers snapping. "Earth to Cassie?"
"Cassie? Hey... hey, say something," Jake said, his brow furrowed.
"I'm... fine. Just trying to make sense of things," I mumbled, pushing myself up from the cold stone floor. The room tilted and I stumbled.
"Whoa, easy. What happened?" Jake caught my arm, steadying me.
"I know where they are. Both Phoebe and Damon. But we have to hurry and get to Damon first. He was fighting one of the monsters when I saw him," I explained, the image of ice spears still burned into my mind.
"You saw him? Like, are you being serious?" Madeleine asked, disbelief written all over her face.
"Yeah. I actually did. I saw Phoebe as well," I said, a flicker of pride cutting through the dizziness.
"No way! How is that even possible?" Madeleine’s arms crossed.
"Where exactly did you see them? Can you remember the direction?" Jake asked, all business now.
"Yeah, I think so." I scanned the damp, peeling walls, trying to match them to what I’d seen in my mind. "It’s that way." I pointed to a dark, yawning archway to our left.
"Are you sure about that?" Madeleine pressed.
"Yeah. I think." Doubt crept in. Was I?
"Great," Madeleine muttered, dripping sarcasm.
"I’m sure, okay? It’s gotta be that way."
"Okay. I trust you, Cassie. Let’s move. And like you said earlier, Madeleine, we don’t have all day. Right?" Jake said, already striding toward the entrance.
"Right," Madeleine muttered.
Madeleine’s gaze slid to me. I gave her a small, shaky smile.
"Come on," she sighed, and we jogged to catch up to Jake.
☯️~
We walked for what felt like twenty minutes, the only sound our footsteps echoing off wet stone and the distant, artificial drip of water. Then we hit two crossroads, both swallowing light.
"Okay, wizard. Which way next?" Madeleine asked, arms folded, eyebrow raised.
What is with her attitude all of a sudden?
"I think it’s that way." I pointed to the path on our left, where the air felt colder.
"Okay... let’s go." Jake didn’t waste time. He headed down the left path, firelight flickering from his palm to light the way.
We followed close behind.
After a few more minutes of walking, the tunnel opened into a familiar chamber. Cracked pillars. Broken glass glittering on the floor. The air smelled like ozone and dust.
This was where Phoebe had been meditating when I saw her.
"I know this place. Phoebe was here. This was where I saw her," I said, turning in a slow circle to confirm. The collapsed archway was exactly the same.
"Well, I don’t see Phoebe anywhere. So where exactly is she?" Madeleine asked, scanning the empty room.
"I don’t know, but I know for sure she was here," I insisted. "Right here." I pointed to the exact spot.
"If she was here, we would have seen her. Did she suddenly turn invisible?" Madeleine said dryly.
"I know what I saw, Madeleine. And what is with the passive-aggressive remarks?" I snapped, my patience fraying.
"What are you getting all angry for? And what passive-aggressive remarks are you talking about?" Madeleine shot back, feigning innocence.
"Cassie, just relax. And Madeleine, could you please stop being a pain?" Jake said, stepping between us.
Madeleine rolled her eyes.
We were still bickering when we didn’t hear the footsteps approaching until they were too close.
"Guys?!" Phoebe’s voice cracked with relief as she stumbled into the chamber.
Jake’s hand flared instantly, a blazing fire sword materializing in his grip. Madeleine’s eyes flashed green, her fingers twitching as the ground beneath us trembled.
And I just hid behind Jake, using him as a human shield.
"Whoa, guys, slow down. It’s just me," Phoebe said, both hands up in surrender, chest heaving.
"Prove it," Madeleine said, not dropping her guard.
"Um... how?" Phoebe asked, bewildered.
"Where did you just come from?" I asked, peeking around Jake’s shoulder.
"I was right here meditating. Then a few minutes after I left, I heard voices coming from here. Had to turn back to check it out," Phoebe explained, her words tumbling out fast.
"She’s telling the truth," I said, stepping out from behind Jake.
"So you have the ability to tell when people are lying now?" Madeleine asked, rolling her eyes again.
"I did tell you I saw her earlier, didn’t I? And she was indeed meditating when I saw her," I said, squaring my shoulders.
"You saw me? How and from where?" Phoebe asked, eyes wide.
"Well, it’s complicated. I sort of used my powers to find you," I admitted, trying not to sound too excited about it.
"You saw me using your powers? That’s officially the coolest thing I’ve ever heard," Phoebe said, her face lighting up.
"Yeah, okay. Since we’ve established the fact that you’re you, we should go find Damon next and get this over with," Madeleine cut in.
"She’s right. We shouldn’t waste more time," Jake agreed.
I nodded.
🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️
Our next stop was the exact location I’d seen Damon.
He wasn’t there, but there were traces— puddles of water scattered across the stone, some already freezing into thin sheets of ice. The air smelled sharp, like a winter storm.
"Well... I guess he’s gone," Madeleine remarked.
"Do you think something happened to him?" I asked Jake, anxiety twisting my stomach.
"No. Remember, this whole thing isn’t real. It’s a simulation. He’ll be fine," Jake replied, but his jaw was tight.
"Let me check if I can hear him. You all should be quiet," Phoebe said.
She immediately closed her eyes and tucked the hair covering her face behind her ears, going completely still. The rest of us froze, barely breathing.
"Wait... I hear something. He’s close... very close. Come on, this way," Phoebe said, her eyes snapping open. She took off down a side tunnel and we followed, silent and fast.
When we found Damon, he was battling another monster— a hulking, shadowy thing with too many teeth.
Jake didn’t hesitate. He conjured a fireball and hurled it. The monster screeched, the sound like nails on glass, and whipped around toward us, its claws scraping stone.
But suddenly its legs locked. It thrashed, trying to move forward, but it couldn’t. The ground had turned to thick, sucking mud around its feet.
I shot a look at Madeleine. Her hands were outstretched, eyes glowing green, a faint smile on her lips. She’d rooted the monster to the ground.
"Nice," Jake said to her, genuine approval in his voice. She smiled back at him, and my stomach did a weird, jealous flip.
I looked away.
"I got this," Damon shouted. He stalked closer to the trapped monster, water swirling around his hands. It condensed, sharpened, forming into a long, crystalline blade of solid water.
With a grunt, he sent it flying. The blade blade slammed into the monster’s chest.
The monster winced in pain, then shattered, disappearing into black pixels that faded like a bad connection.
"Okay. That makes it two monsters I’ve taken down," Damon said proudly, shaking water from his hands.
"Seriously? I literally just played a big role in taking this one down," Madeleine said, rolling her eyes.
"Right. But I still got the kill, so..." Damon shrugged, smirking.
"No one’s keeping count here. Get over yourself," Jake said flatly.
"Why? How many did you kill?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow at Jake.
Jake just shook his head.
"I see. None," Damon said and chuckled.
"How many more do we need to kill exactly before we can get the hell out of here?" Phoebe asked, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"A few more, I guess," Jake replied, scanning the darkness.
"Okay... so here’s how it’s going to be. I’ll try to listen and see if I can hear some of the monsters, then we’ll go for the kill. As a TEAM," Phoebe emphasized, shooting Damon a pointed look.
Damon just chuckled.
"And who made you team leader?" Madeleine asked, arms crossed.
"Do you have a better plan for tracking down these things? Then please, let’s hear it," Phoebe shot back.
"Actually, I do. Cassie is the better plan. She’s now literally a live working GPS. What more could we ask for?" Madeleine said.
"A GPS? How do you mean?" Damon asked, looking right at me, curiosity replacing his smirk.
"Um... I..." I started,
"She’s the one that found out where you were..." but Madeleine cut me off.
"Technically, that was me," Phoebe added.
"Technically, I don’t care," Madeleine fired back.
"What Madeleine meant to say was I used my powers to find your location at first. But you’d already moved by the time we got there. Since you were close enough, Phoebe used her hearing to find you. Again," I explained to Damon, trying to keep the peace.
"Right. That’s pretty cool. So you’ve finally figured out your powers, huh?" Damon said, his smirk softening into something almost... impressed.
I simply nodded, heat creeping up my neck.
"Are we done with the chitchat yet or what? Phoebe, let’s get to work. We’ll go with your plan. Let’s take down at least five of those things and get the hell outta here," Jake said aloud, his commander voice back.
"Alright then," Phoebe replied and immediately dropped into her listening stance, eyes closed, breathing even.
⛰️
The silence stretched. Then Phoebe’s eyes flew open, but they weren’t her normal brown. They were solid white, glowing.
"I hear them," she whispered, her voice layered, echoing. "Dozens of them. And judging from their
sounds, I don't think they're monsters."
A cold dread slid down my spine.
"They’re us," Phoebe said, her glowing eyes locking onto mine. "And they’re coming right this way."
The ground began to shake.
~