"Mom, Dad can you hear me are you okay??" shouted Annie as a new Hedge that sprouted up blocked her way
"I'm fine Annie, are you alright??" asked Mrs. Grey
"Yes I am fine mom" said Annie
"Lisa, Annie are you both alright??" called Mr. Grey
"Yes Dad I am alright, are you alright??" asked Annie
"I am okay" he said
"Don't worry Honey I am fine" said Mrs. Grey
"What just happened??" asked Mr. Grey
"I don't know but but it's weird" said Annie
"So what do we do now??" asked Mr. Grey
"Ooh wait I know let's all go follow the path you see ,and let's try to se if we can find our way out if any of us gets out we look for Adrian to come help us" said Annie
"Okay" said Mr. Mrs. Grey and with that they all parted ways.
It hadn't been up to 5 minutes before Annie felt like she was being watched but she ignored the feeling and kept on walking and looking at the clear Blue sky.
She turned right, left and right again and she kept on walking, the hedges on her path were still green and fresh unlike the ones that separated her and her parents.
After a few minutes of her walk, Annie could no longer shake the feeling of her being watched she she looked all around her and saw nothing until in the corner of her eye it looked like there was a dark, shadowy, misty figure there but it was too quick before she could look at the figure.
Just then the clear Blue sky suddenly turned dark grey as if then would be rain and just then Annie felt Goosebumps, and without warning the Dark Misty Figure bear hugged her from behind, she couldn't scream because he was covering her mouth with it's very cold hand.
Annie didn't know what to do but suddenly she remembered Curtis Words in her ear when he was teaching her self defense, her mind went into a flashback:
"So the next move is very easy and you will like it because you should have tried it when i Bear Hugged you from behind so like i said For cases where the attacker is coming from behind( Like what i did) you will want to use this move. Focus on getting low and creating space to free yourself.
To perform it
1.Bend forward from the waist. This shifts your weight forward, making it more difficult for your attacker to pick you up. It also gives you a better angle to throw elbows from side to side to the attacker's face.
2.Turn into the attacker with one of your elbows and continue counterattacking.
3.This should give you space to turn fully, using another move to injure the face or strike the groin. With the space these moves have created, you may be able to escape and run away.
Annie quickly bent down and as expected the man was caught of guard, she hit him with one of her elbows and she heard him yelp and he let go of her mouth.
he continued hitting him with her elbow and then she turned around hit his masked face and kicked his Groin he fell on the floor and Annie ran as Fact as she could without looking back.
She remembered Curtis saying that "One thing you should know Annie is that never give mercy to your opponent because they might counterattack"
Annie ran left and right and then right again the Hedges had lost their bright green colour due to the dark grey sky shining on them, there Annie was running through the Dark Green hedges, she ran so fast that her stamina was depleted so she stopped running and waited to regain her breath.
But soon enough she heard some rustling and she knew that the guy she knocked down was up again and was looking for her.
Annie couldn't run anymore so the next thing was to fight and she remembered the first counterattack move Curtis had taught her
"So the first move we are going to learn is called the Elbow strike it is a basic move that is used if your attacker is in close range and you are unable to get enough momentum to throw a strong punch or kick as explained in the name we use our elbows, to do the move we have 3 simple steps that you must always remember and follow to avoid injury:
1.If you can, stabilize yourself with a strong core and legs to ensure a powerful blow.
2.Bend your arm at the elbow, shift your weight forward, and strike your elbow into your attacker's neck, jawline, chin, or temple. These are all effective targets.
3.This may cause your attacker to loosen their grip, allowing you to run.
Once she saw the Guy close to the place where she was crouching down she stood up and made sure she was balanced, the guy then saw her and was waking to her still with his black mask on his face.
She bent her arm at her elbow, she bent forward and as soon as the guy was 3 meters away from her she hit is neck as hard as she could and the man was down.
By this time Annie had regained her strength and she ran once again "Curtis, Curtis where are you??" shouted Annie in her head
There was no answer so she shouted again Curtis, Curtis where are you I am being followed"
"Annie, Annie what's wrong where are you??" asked Curtis
"Oh Thank God Curtis you are here" she said
"I am in the Maze Hedges in the Garden behind the Palace, something happened that separated me and my parents and now there's this guy that is following me he's wearing a Ski mask and I have managed to hit him but he's still following me" explained Annie
As Annie was talking she didn't know that she ran into a dead end
"Oh no" she said
"Annie what's wrong??!" asked a worried Curtis
"I'm at a dead end and I see the guy is already following behind me" she said as she was panting.
"What do I do??" she asked
"Wait don't worry Annie okay i am going to teach you a counterattack spell that will blow the man away Literally" said Curtis
"Curtis this is no time for Jokes" shouted Annie
"Okay okay" said Curtis
"Say After me Ventus"
"Ventus
" Succurre"
"Succurre"
"Mihi "
"Mihi
"Et "
"Et"
"Huic"
"Huic"
"Et"
"Et "
"Incantatori "
"Incantatori "
Just as Annie finished saying the last one a great wind came from no where and carried the Guy away and Annie was so Relieved
"Yayyyy Curtis he's gone" she said
"Okay that's a relief" he said
"But now how do I get out of this maze and find my Parents??" she asked
"Well it's easy just do a location spell" said Curtis
"A location spell??" asked Annie
"Yes let me give you the spell" he said
"locate viam exponentia" he said
"locate parentibus meis exponentia, that's all" he said
"Well Annie I have to get back to the meeting goodluck" he said
"Byee Curtis" she said
Annie first did the "locate viam exponentia" spell and she was immediately shown a straight path to the exit and she saw Adrian waiting there, he the asked where her parents were and she explained everything so he did the "parentibus meis exponentia" spell and her Parents were teleported to the exit.
"Annie why are you messy??" asked Her Mom