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Sophie opened her eyes. Elva was standing over her, looking worried. Sophie examined herself. Neither she or Elva had gotten a single scratch from the fall.

"Did we die?" Sophie asked.

"No, Nimum's amulets of protection stopped our fall before we hit the ground," Elva explained. She reached out her hand to help Sophie get back up. With some surprise, Sophie grabbed Elva's hand and got up.

"Um, and also..." Elva muttered. "Thank you for trying to save me."

"You don't need to thank me for that."

"Yes, I do..." Elva said. She stared down at the ground as she spoke. "No one ever did something like that for me... And certainly not someone improper like you..."

Sophie frowned at her. "... Thanks. I think."

"... Or maybe I'm the one who isn't being proper..." Elva muttered, avoiding Sophie's gaze. "But now we need to get out of here. Fenrir said that he would follow us down here to get your remains, so he's probably on his way now."

Elva walked over to the opening of a narrow passage in the cliff wall that seemed to lead upwards.

"I've scouted all the other paths. This isn't the fastest way back, but it's the narrowest, so Fenrir will have a hard time following us."

She looked expectantly at Sophie, who was still blown away by how friendly Elva was being [https://img.wattpad.com/2efea50434b4fb5b3a4b987ab3b2093f70bb931e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4d5a66416952726559624c454f773d3d2d313235363530313533322e313730633236333838646432663862323730373333383037353535352e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

She looked expectantly at Sophie, who was still blown away by how friendly Elva was being. All in one day, Sophie had ridden a flying bus, talked to a waterfall, been sucked into a fairy tale, been chased by flying dinner plates, met a dragon, answered a sphinx's riddle... And yet, somehow, Elva suddenly trying to be nice was the biggest surprise she'd had.

"So, are you coming or what?" Elva asked impatiently. Sophie shook off her surprise and followed Elva through the small passage.

"Fenrir seemed to know your parents. Did you know they'd met?" Elva asked.

Sophie shook her head.

"No, but Ignortus did tell me that Fenrir had been sniffing around the school back when my parents were students here..."

She thought back to all the stuff that Ignortus had said.

"Actually... It was almost like he KNEW I was going to meet Fenrir... He even made me read a story with Fenrir in it."

Elva shrugged. "Ignortus is a bit of a mystery. There are a lot of strange teachers at this school, but he may be the most mysterious out of all of them. The stories he selects for us aren't just about reading. They're stories that'll teach us something... one way or another."

Really? I wonder what the other kids had to learn, Sophie thought. Apparently Nimum wasn't the only teacher who had more going on than met the eye.

"So, what kind of story did he make you read?" she asked.

Elva grew quiet for a moment, as if she didn't really want to say.

"It was a story about how it's not your appearance that decides whether you're... proper. About how it's your actions that matter," she said quietly.

A couple of puzzle pieces clicked into place in Sophie's mind. Right after Ignortus' lesson was when they'd had their big argument in the dining hall. And that was when Elva had started to complain specifically about things that Sophie had done, like mixing up Vix's bones and getting into conflicts with Drim.

"Elva, can I ask you something else?"

"Can't it wait?" Elva was concentrating on finding her way through the passage.

"Not really." Sophie felt like this might be the best chance to ask that she'd ever get. "Why does being 'proper' matter so much to you?"

Elva stopped in her tracks. Her back was towards Sophie, so she couldn't see her face.

"Can't you ask me something else? That's very... direct," Elva asked quietly.

Sophie shook her head. "No."

Elva sighed deeply, then nodded.

"It's something that..."

"Where are you, human child!?" The sudden yell from behind them cut Elva off.

It was Fenrir's voice. He had already reached the bottom of the cliff, and to his dismay hadn't found two dead students there. Elva and Sophie exchanged a quick look and then started running down the passage. They could hear Fenrir yelling in the background.

"Where are you!?" Fenrir's keen ears caught the sound of Sophie and Elva's footsteps. He jumped over to the small passage, but as Elva had predicted, it was too small for him to pass through. He snarled viciously.

"I'm going to get you both! Especially you, human child! You will not escape me!"

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Elva and Sophie kept going, moving even faster now. As they moved forward, the passage started to grow wider. If it continued like this, there would soon be room for Fenrir to squeeze himself in.

Up ahead was a sharp turn. They turned the corner and stepped out into an even wider passage which connected to several new paths and passages.

"Which way do we go?" Sophie asked anxiously.

Elva put her hand against the wall. "That way!" She pointed towards a path further ahead. They ran as fast as they could towards it. Even though they couldn't hear Fenrir approaching just then, they knew it was only a matter of time before he caught their scent again.

How were they going to get rid of the wolf? All they could do now was to find their classmates and hope that Nimum had showed up.

As they ran, they passed by hundreds of cracks and small passages in the walls. If it hadn't been for Elva, Sophie would have gotten lost a thousand times. The path wound its way upwards. Sophie and Elva were both exhausted, sweat dripping from their brows, but they both knew that they couldn't stop now.

Run! Just keep running! was the only thought going through Sophie's head.

Elva let her hand run against the stone wall as she sprinted.

"We're almost there! Just another turn and then..."

That was all Elva managed to say before they both spotted Fenrir in front of them. He was standing further up the passage with a hungry smile.

He was standing further up the passage with a hungry smile [https://img.wattpad.com/2d1e59effba943f2f8f151c4849669ae63f75270/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f696866306832777a72414d7745673d3d2d313235363530313533322e313730633236343136613366343765643138323233303839333435382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"I've got you now!"

The wolf took a step towards them. Sophie grabbed Elva's hand and dragged her toward a smaller side passage that Fenrir would not be able to pass through. The wolf jumped at them, but he wasn't fast enough. Without a second to spare, Elva and Sophie made it into the tiny passage as Fenrir's jaws closed around the empty air.

The passage hadn't led into another tunnel, but into a large, mostly empty cave. There were no other exits than the one they had just entered through. They were trapped. Sophie looked around and tried to quickly get a sense of the place. With concern she noted that the rock wall that they had just crawled through didn't seem as thick as she had hoped. Given time, Fenrir would almost certainly be able to break down the wall.

She had to think fast. What else was there in the cave? Scattered around on the ground were loose rocks, both big and small. Running through the cave was a stream of lava. And up on the ceiling she could see several roots sticking out. She looked over at Elva, remembering how the tree had moved its branches on Elva's command during recess.

A plan started to take shape inside her head.

"Elva, can you make the roots up on the ceiling move down here?"

Elva looked doubtfully up at the roots.

"No, I'd need to be able to touch them."

On the other side of the rock wall, they could hear Fenrir laughing triumphantly. "There's nowhere left for you to run. You're trapped!"

He started flinging his massive body against the rock wall, just as Sophie had feared. At least the wall was able to take more than a single hit from Fenrir. They still had a bit of time.

Sophie kept investigating the room. There had to be some way to get Elva up where she could touch the roots. There! There was a point where the rocks on the floor piled up near a wall.

"Come on!" Sophie yelled, running over and climbing on top of the small pile of rocks. "Elva, come stand on my shoulders!"

"What?! I can't get up there!"

"Just push against the wall when you're climbing me. Hurry!"

With some effort, Elva managed to climb up and stand on Sophie's shoulders. Elva was surprisingly light – Sophie assumed that was probably an elf thing. Now all Elva had to do was reach the roots and they'd have a chance. Elva stretched as high as she could. She was balancing all the way up on the tips of her toes, but the roots were still just out of reach.

"You're gonna have to jump!"

"Are you crazy?! I'll fall!"

"Then just make the roots catch you. You can do that, right?"

Elva hesitated, but the sound of Fenrir crashing against the cave wall was a strong motivator.

"... All right. I'll try."

Elva bent her legs in preparation, locked her eyes on a single root and... jumped! She flew through the air, stretching out as far as she was able, desperately trying to reach.

Only the very tip of her fingers managed to graze against one of the roots, but one touch was all it took [https://img.wattpad.com/44f7add344710ddaddd132459655e9bc52f341c6/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5a4c6b456d49445651776d4d33773d3d2d313235363530313533322e313730633236343764633634373764343935333436343233373636332e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Only the very tip of her fingers managed to graze against one of the roots, but one touch was all it took. The roots immediately stretched out and caught her before she could plunge to the ground.

"Great work, Elva!" Sophie cheered.

Elva smiled proudly as the roots lowered her to the floor. She found her footing, but still held onto one of the roots while the others retreated to the ceiling. "Now what?"

"Make the roots gather up as many of the rocks as they can!"

Elva nodded. The roots began to stretch from the ceiling to the floor, gathering up rocks.

"All right, here's my plan. We need to get back out on the path we came from, but we can't do that until the moment Fenrir breaks through the wall. And we can't get past Fenrir without a distraction."

Elva was listening intently with a pensive look on her face.

"So you want me to make the roots throw rocks at Fenrir when he gets in here as a distraction, and then we sneak past him?"

Sophie nodded. "Exactly."

"It's not a bad idea," she said, "except... as soon as I stop touching the roots, they're going to stop throwing rocks, and then the wolf will probably spot us."

That hadn't occurred to Sophie. Then what could they do? They had to get past Fenrir somehow.

"Okay, but... but what if...?" Elva mumbled deep in thought. She had a slightly wild look in her eye, but then she shook her head. "No, that would never work..."

"What is it? Do you have an idea?" Sophie asked.

Elva shrugged nervously. "Innovative thinking isn't exactly my strong suit, but what if we cling to the back of one of the huge rocks, and then when the roots throw it, we get thrown with it?"

Elva pointed over towards a large rock, big enough for both of them to hide behind. Roots descended from the ceiling and grabbed onto it.

"I don't think it's a great idea, but at least it would give us a chance to get past the wolf... What do you think?"

"Elva, that's amazing!" Sophie exclaimed excitedly. "We'll fly right past the wolf without him noticing us!"

Elva was surprised by Sophie's reaction. "And the amulets should protect us when the stone hits the ground," she added happily.

Once again, Fenrir smashed his massive frame against the rock wall, which started to crack. They needed to hurry.

"Now all we need is a way to hurt Fenrir," Sophie concluded, "so that he can't just chase after us at full speed. When you throw the rock, try to aim for his legs!"

"That gives me an idea," Elva said. She made one of the roots drill into a rock, lift it up, and hold it above the lava stream. "What if we dip the stones in the lava before throwing them?"

Sophie was impressed. Elva really had all kinds of good ideas.

Elva really had all kinds of good ideas [https://img.wattpad.com/376b66842a932a5456caa519dfca757d4ffd4aea/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f615353314a5a775f4a316f4d78413d3d2d313235363530313533322e313733663662333938666438366665643833363432373436323036352e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]