Ruby looked at Raven then back down at Jay and she nodded. "Ok, could you take us there?" She asked Cooper.

"Sure." Cooper turned on his heel, and, beckoning for Ruby to follow, started jogging through the green hemlock forest. "It's going to be a while before we reach the camp, so we may as well converse a bit. Have you seen a familiar around me? Or anyone else other than Jay, for that matter?"

Ruby stumbled, trying to pick Jay up but Raven intercepted and carried Jay on his back. Ruby looked up at Cooper and shook her head. "No, not really."

Cooper smiled. "Well, that's because I don't have one. Elementals are so powerful that they don't need familiars to enhance their abilities. All they need to learn is how to keep control of their abilities, is all." The terrain had changed into a swampy area, and Cooper leaped from one not-as-soggy mass of moss to another, quickly followed by Agnes.

Ruby tried to follow in Cooper's footsteps but at one point slipped and fell flat on her face in the muck.

Raven flinched, feeling bad for her.

Cooper laughed. "Here, let me help you," he said, holding a hand out to Ruby, his feet firmly planted on the ground, where it had been previously wet, soggy, and mushy... but the ground was firm and solid now... one would have gotten confused just pondering the mysteries of this.

Ruby looked up at him confused but nodded and took his hand, standing up. "Thank you..."

Cooper waved his hand, and a narrow path of stone rose up from the mucky ground. "Sorry, forgot," he said, ashamed.

Ruby stared in wonder than shook her head as she began walking. "No... it's ok..."

"If ever you fall, I'll catch you, I promise." Cooper flicked his wrist, and a stone railing sprouted up from the ground on either side of the path. "But I don't think that will be necessary." Cooper began walking, and, behind him, the stone broke apart and sank into the ground, leaving no trace of any existence of a walkway.

Ruby looked around in awe and nodded to him. "Thank you..." She said quietly and followed where the path led.

The path seemed to float through the swamp in such a way that the two were going faster than they walked, if that made any sense. Soon the path ended at a dense tangle of brush, with stone spikes jutting out. The tangle was very high; one could see, when he looked up, storm clouds swirling around the top. A tunnel, encompassed by tree roots, met the path and went upwards. Cooper started leading the way. The path spiraled up and up and up. After a while, the two came to a heavy silver-coloured door, crackling with blue electricity.

Cooper jumped back. "Erm, usually this darn door's open. We asked the creator of this door to open it when he's in... but unfortunately he's not inside. Also, he meshed all of the Elements to create this door... otherwise it wouldn't be metal, because metal is included in my Element, the Earth Element. But it also has Nature and Electricity and Water and Fire and stuff... so don't touch it, unless you want to be scorched or electrocuted or worse." Cooper scrutinized the door. "Also, the chamber inside is soundproof, so nobody would be eavesdropping on our plans. Unless, of course, the eavesdropper was an Arcane Elemental, some of whom can get inside minds, but those are really rare."

Ruby stared at the door and nodded softly, staying a safe distance away, she shared a look with Raven then asked Cooper. "So... how do we get in...?"

Cooper looked sullenly at the closed door. "We can't. Not until the creator of the door comes. Only he can--"

Another voice spoke teasingly: "Only he can what?" The sound was coming from a microphone, which had been revealed, once a hatch slid open.

Cooper looked startled, then swore loudly. "Just ____ open this ____ door you _____ ___!!!"

The voice laughed lightly. "Know what Cooper? You're funny. Really funny. Only I can't let you in until I know who else is coming with."

Cooper hissed to Ruby, "Just say your name and your familiar and whatever other information you think is necessary. Then he will probably ask a couple other trivia questions, then let you in."

Ruby looked startled by Cooper's reaction and looked at the microphone. "I-I'm Ruby Haze, this is my panther familiar Raven. We've been helped a lot by these people."

There was a short pause, then the voice spoke again, "These people? Which people? And are you a boy? What's your favourite colour? If you're a girl and it's purple I'm not letting you in."

Joke, Cooper mouthed to Ruby.

Ruby looked thoroughly baffled. "Um... I'm with Cooper, Ranger, Avery, Jay and their familiars... I'm a girl and my favorite color is red..."

The voice sighed before starting to correct Ruby. "No, only Jay has a familiar, and his familiar's free. And plus all the Elementals don't have familiars. And don't say you're with Ranger, because nobody is ever with Ranger. Ranger is a perverted obnoxious kid, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to kill him. Oh, by the by, one of my favourite colours is red too! So I might let you in. What's your age? What's your middle name? And finally, who am I?"

Ruby looked surprised by the question and she said. "Um... I'm 17... My middle name Clo... and you are..." She looked totally lost. "The one who made this door...?"

"17? I'm 17 too, so that's awesome! Middle name Clo? Don't believe I've ever heard that before. And I mean who am I, like what's my name, not 'Creator of the Weird Door That Stands in My Path.' I mean my name, You've heard it today. And, unless Cooper told you something stupid, like I'm a dragon or something, you should know what my Element is. Or are."

Cooper looked wholly ashamed of himself. "I should've known he was going to ask that question," he muttered to himself.

bump?

Ruby wracked her brain but could not come across Cooper ever saying a specific name. She looked up and said. "I-I'm sorry... No one told me your name... I know that you control a lot of elements like Earth, Nature, Electricity, Water, and Fire..."

Cooper and Ruby would not have seen the guy behind the door roll his eyes, but he did anyway to leak out some of his frustration. "Okay, finally, yeah I control all Elements ever to exist. What's my name? I definitely remember Cooper telling you something about me and dragons, which is only partly true, though I can enter people's minds. That's the Arcane in me. Now, do you recall anyone with red eyes?"

The red eyes is what got her, she remembered and said. "Oh! You're Avery!"

"Yes. I'm Avery."

The door in front of Cooper and Ruby glowed red, then unlatched and swung open to reveal a small terrace. The wall of brush, ice and stone was dotted all around with windows, through which people could see out but not in. A sheet of stone attached to the wall wound in a spiral from the terrace down to, finally, the ground. Down there on the ground, there were a few mounds, into which people were going. All around Cooper and Ruby people were active. One boy with bleached-blond hair walked through the air, carrying two mugs of coffee. A girl on the ground pressed her fingers together, and a sheet of pink light slammed into her opponent, who immediately got up and shot a crackle of blue energy back at her.

Cooper stepped forward, smiling. "Welcome to camp!"