Adele's Stories

It broke. I can’t believe it broke. What am I going to do now? They were getting closer. We can’t win without it. I tried to keep myself from trembling as I turned to Jake and stared hard at him. I couldn’t get myself to talk so I just stared and waited. Jake was still in his fighting stance and saw me out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head toward me and gave me a questioning look. When he saw the staff in my hand he straightened up.

“What did you do?” he exclaimed.

“It wasn’t my fault! It just…broke.” I couldn’t stop the trembling now, and I bit back tears. Without the staff we would surely die.

“Maybe we can fix it. What was it exactly the wizard said?” I could tell he was trying to stay calm for my sake, but I could see the terror in his eyes.

“I don’t remember. And even if I did we wouldn’t have time. They’re almost here!” I was surprised at how steady my voice was considering the inner turmoil going on inside me at the moment. Jake looked at our oncoming enemy then back at me. He seemed to be trying to decide something. Finally he grabbed half of the staff out of my hand and resumed his fighting stance, while holding the staff like a sword.

“The I suggest you brace yourself.” Was all he said. I swallowed hard and copied his stance. We waited in silence in the copse of trees as we watched the enemy approach from the valley. When they were close enough to us we swung our staffs in front of us and let out a war cry. Lighting exploded from the staffs and took out the first line of soldiers.

Jake and I shared a quick, shocked look before facing the enemy again. And I knew we were thinking the same thing. The staff was supposed to break.