October 22, 2002 – 22:18
Everyone was holding their breath. Neither Coralis nor Dwayne got back up. Frank wanted to rush to Coralis, but Sebastian stopped him.
"She isn't dead, isn't she?" said Lizzy, her hand covering her mouth.
"I want to go to her," said Frank.
"She probably stam'ed out, but we can't go in yet. Given how much energy has been discharged during the battle, it's not safe for humans to get close to them, not until the lingering energy starts dissipating. If there is no movement for 5 minutes, the officials will go have a look."
A few minutes later, High Mage Finnas and the two CMMA officials walked into the circle to check on them.
"What does stam'ed out mean?" said Louis.
"Means she entirely drained her energy and passed out, out of stamina."
High Mage Finnas stood back up and whispered something to Vectan. The CMMA representative nodded and headed to Audrey's family.
"Blue Thunder won the duel."
Lizzy hugged him and Frank released his breath.
"She stam'ed out?" said Sebastian.
"Sorry," said Lizzy as she released him.
"Uh, don't worry. She stam'ed out, yes, but she's awake."
"Can I go to her?" said Frank.
"Not yet, there is still too much energy buzzing in the air, it would fry you," said Vectan.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" said High Mage Finnas to get everyone's attention.
Vectan was about to return to him, but Sebastian stopped him.
"Can you please give this to Blue?" said Sebastian, handing him a vial of mighty monster juice.
Vectan nodded and grabbed the vial.
"This traditional duel between Blue Thunder and Dwayne Glozo never was supposed to happen. Pier Glozo made this agreement with a human who wasn't fully aware of our laws and customs. Although M. Frank McNally is related to Ms. Audrey Hudson and lives with an elemental being who did reveal herself to him, he is not considered eligible to consent to a traditional duel agreement."
Coralis pushed herself on her elbows and Vectan, crouched next to her, gave her the vial of mighty monster juice.
"Considering that Blue Thunder, who is Ms. Audrey Hudson's elemental guardian, agreed to it," continued High Mage Finnas, "the original terms will stand and we will overlook that infraction to our laws. In the traditional duel between Blue Thunder and Dwayne Glozo, Blue Thunder is the victor. Therefore, Ms. Audrey Hudson is to be immediately returned to her mother."
High Mage Finnas signalled to Mouz Laplaine, his other representative, who was standing by Dwayne. Mouz walked to Pier's family. Through the shadows, he saw Mousse Glozo holding Audrey still. He handed his hand to Audrey and she took it.
"Her mother is human, my granddaughter cannot go back to her."
"You heard High Mage Finnas. Blue Thunder is Ms. Audrey Hudson's elemental guardian and she won the duel. You cannot change the terms. Release her, or you will be arrested and possibly killed."
Mousse released Audrey and Mouz led her to Lizzy. As soon as she saw her daughter approaching, Lizzy ran to her. She fell on her knee and held her in her arms.
"My baby!"
Frank looked for a moment at his cousin in Lizzy's arms and returned his attention to Coralis, who was slowly moving into a sitting position. Vectan signalled to Sebastian and Frank. They both ran to her.
"However," boomed High Mage Finnas, "there have been a lot more infractions committed by Pier Glozo and his family. While our laws do not forbid elemental beings from getting into relationships with humans, there are strict rules to follow to prevent this type of situation and limit exposure of our world to humans."
"I wanted to reveal myself to her, I swear," said Pier, looking at Lizzy and Audrey, "but my family said I couldn't."
"That isn't an excuse, the revelation should have taken place before the conception of the child. If you cannot establish that level of trust with your human partner, you must let it go before involving a child. Not only did you fail to reveal yourself to your former human partner, but you also enrolled your elemental daughter in a school without mentioning that she was unaware of her elemental genetics, without ever having any contact with her, and without discussing it with the human parent."
"Lizzy, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in contact with other elementals," said Pier.
Ignoring him, she got back up, grabbed Audrey's hand and returned to her family while looking at Coralis, who sat a short distance away from High Mage Finnas, her head still down. Frank was on his knees next to her, his left hand was on her back. Sebastian was crouched in front of her, by her feet.
"As a result," boomed High Mage Finnas, "Blue Thunder had been appointed guardian through blood override. Winisk Elemental School will be investigated regarding some reports that have been brought to our attention. We will also be taking into our custody the Glozo family for investigation. Ms. Audrey Hudson should never have been taken out of school grounds without the explicit authorization of Blue Thunder."
Coralis slowly moved to get back up on her feet. Frank tried to help her, carefully avoiding touching the large burn on her shoulder. Sporadically, her body tried to shift into a panther, as if she was having an odd episode of hiccups.
"In light of the infractions leading to this traditional duel tonight, from this point on, the CMMA forbids Pier Glozo and his family from having any direct contact with Ms. Audrey Hudson and her family. Any communication in that regard is to be filtered through her legal guardian, Blue Thunder. Additionally, Blue Thunder will have to personally accompany Ms. Audrey Hudson to school or witness her entering official school transportation from the gathering point, and personally pick her up from school or the gathering point. That is all for tonight."
Mouz and Vectan headed to where Pier's family were. Helped by Frank, Coralis slowly started walking toward Audrey while Sebastian spoke to High Mage Finnas.
"It took them less than 48 hours to find and bring Audrey back to us and get the people behind the kidnapping arrested, or dead. I'm very impressed, they should give seminars to our cops," said Louis.
As soon as she saw Coralis approaching, Audrey let go her of mother's arm and ran to her guardian.
"Thank you, thank you so much," said Audrey as she wrapped her arms around Coralis' waist.
"It's no problem, I did what I needed to do," said Coralis as she slowly crouched down, supported by Frank.
Lizzy and Molly met with them, and so did High Mage Finnas, followed by Vectan and Mouz. Sebastian went back to Stephanie and Louis.
"That was a great battle, Blue Thunder. We told the Hudsons that no one in their right mind would mess with you and tonight, you proved us right. The only reason the Glozos attempted anything was because they didn't know you were Ms. Audrey Hudson's guardian," said Vectan.
"They'll certainly live to regret it," said Lizzy.
"Make sure that Ms. Audrey Hudson does not get out of your sight until she is back to school. Mousse Glozo was gone before she could get apprehended," said High Mage Finnas.