The Left Behind Footprints

Astrid stood kneeling by Hayden's side for several moments, her mind was frozen and it was as if she couldn't move in fear. No...She said to herself. Her hands felt oddly numb as she dove into Hayden's bag and rummaged through his things.

Elemenatry, Weathestral, Books...come on. She looked around to find a book. An Official Book of Healing. Yes. She said to herself. She stood up and ruffled her hand with a feeling of obvious unease. Offensive spell, Mumblinus Mumbletanis...healing spell. It read Hermonias Hermatanis.

She thought to herself. She didn't have powers...nothing she could do would work. But was she just going to sit there and wait for her best friend to pass when he tried all he could to help her? No...it's my fault if he's dead. He came with me to make me feel better.

It was still worth a try. She pulled herself together, said to herself. Come on...you can do this. But she couldn't. She gave several pants as she mumbled the words "Hermonias Hermatanis". Nothing happened. Astrid let out a sigh and she dove back into Hayden's bag.

Suddenly, an electric surge ran through Astrid's skin. Lying on top of a pile of Hayden's books was a round ball labeled "Healer". Astrid nearly threw the bag over in a hurry to get it. She read the instructions so fast that her eyes blur.

"Put on the person's forehead". She moved a bit too quickly, because Hayden's body seemed to shiver slightly. She placed it on his head and waited, and waited.

After what seemed like weeks, Astrid noticed something strange. Hayden seemed to be moving a bit. Was it just her eyes? She gave Hayden a shake on his shoulder.

"Oh h-hi, A," Hayden mumbled in a high-pitched, faraway voice.

Astrid nearly screamed a sigh of relief. She stuffed the healer back in the bag and tossed the bag over to Hayden. "How are you?" She asked as she slung the bag over her shoulder. "We need to get going,"

"I don't think we should question the village," He mumbled in that same high voice.

"Why not?" Astrid asked, her eyebrows raising slightly as she looked over at Hayden. He was getting up and yawning slightly.

"I just feel like there's a clue lying right in front of us. We just can't see it." Hayden said, and Astrid's mind went blank.

Hayden seemed right. Was there a clue the robber let slip? She thought to herself and considered that possibility. It was quite lucky for them then.

"Yeah, right. Why don't we search the entrance?" Astrid replied, and Hayden's nod was so quick it was as if he knew what Astrid was going to say before she said it.

They ate another ball of crystal water (a new one, the other one didn't re-fill yet) and set off immediately. Astrid looked around to see if there was anything, but didn't see anything.

Hayden, however, seemed to see things Astrid couldn't. "Hm...this seems strange," Hayden mumbled and Astrid spun around to face him at once.

"What does?" She asked, the questions slipping from her mouth before she could stop it. Hayden gave her a weak smile but his face turned rather stern a few seconds later.

"They didn't leave any foot prints, Astrid. There's only two things that would makes sense then." Hayden said, still examining the floor.

"And those would be?" asked Astrid, without a slight clue what was going on. Hayden looked over at her from the floor and his smile curved into a frown.

"Either they put that sign there so that nobody would go in their way to find the photographs ("There must be another door" Hayden frowned), or their soul element is fire. You can melt snow if you have fire powers."

Astrid, who still hadn't caught up to all he said, thought to herself. What if the photographs really weren't stolen? They had to choose an option. Fire powers or distraction?

They both looked at each other for a moment, and Hayden broke the silence with a laugh. "We'll see, won't we?" He said, and Astrid gave him a painful, forced sort of smile.

"Yeah, I guess so," She said, in a hard and scared tone.

Hayden noticed her tone and smiled. He slashed his hand in a formation and a fresh line of snow piled beneath Astrid's feet.

"Er?"

Hayden laughed again, and Astrid looked down at her feet. "When we're gone, we'll need to see if the culprit will come back. I made this pile of enchanted snow, it tells me when somebody except for us has touched this snow with their feet."

Astrid gave him another smile. For some reason, she was feeling lightly stupid. Why was she not helping him, and making him do all of the work? She didn't know.

"Yeah, okay," Astrid mumbled.

"Come on, A," Hayden said, his voice seemed to sound so faraway. Astrid looked up and snapped out her thoughts at once.

"Where?"

"To see the next clue," Hayden replied, giving Astrid a wink and walking over to her. Astrid nodded, unaware of what she was agreeing to. "Yeah..." She mumbled.

Hayden and Astrid walked silently around the trail of footsteps. No footsteps appeared in the snow, and a smile lit on Astrid's pale face.

"You really are amazing, Hayden," Astrid smiled.