By the time Rachel had realized what the guy was doing, she was too far away from any exits. She slowed her speed, but got a little nervous around that blade.
She pictured what the forge would look like behind her, and she figured she was about 4 1/2 feet from that lava pit. She could feel the heat already, even though the edge of the pit had about a three foot drop until you actually hit the lava. On the other side of the pit, there was a lower bank, and that was where you would literally regret getting too close without proper experience/gear.
So, she stopped walking.

BIG mistake.

The guy wrapped his ankle around hers, and pushed her on an angle that caused her to fall straight to her back on that hard floor. Rachel yelped, and found the edges of her sprawled out hair were singing. That last shove had caused her to get all the way back.
She quickly rolled aside as he dropped the knife to where she was laying on her back uselessly. It was strange, though, because she had the wind knocked out of her, and usually she wasn't able to move.
But that wasn't important. Right now, she was trying to dodge her way away from that dangerous pit of doom, and try not to get killed in action. She just had to get out of "shove" range. Even a strong push could get her to topple over the edge.
She patted down her lightly burning hair ends, and made sure nothing was on fire anymore.

Rachel had managed to maneuver out of the way for a bit longer, and quickly bolted, almost in an army crawl, towards where the finished work was. She ducked behind a shield that was low to the ground, and pulled out her phone.

Looking up slowly, she'd realized 2 things.
One? Clarisse was literally three feet away, ducking behind another shield, shaking to death, and giving the 'WHAT NOW!?' look of panic.
Two? She hadn't ever gotten Lila's phone number. She couldn't just ask her parents to come-
Or could she... She went to her contacts, and texted her mom: "MOM! HELP! Clarisse's forge- being attacked. Be here soon- ninja man has knife. EXTRA sharp. PLEASE!"
and that was it. She'd managed to send it, but got no immediate answer.
So she tried to remember anything, ANYTHING, that could have given away Lila's phone number. Had she said it in any of her interviews...?

[[ookay.. needs something good- forgot about this part. >.<+]]

Rachel was running out of time. Clarisse kept pointing in that man's direction, and he was now slicing down little trinkets in the far side of the newly done items.
"Okay..." She said, and only got MORE annoyance from Clarisse. The one thing she'd just noticed was that Clarisse was holding her arm for a specific reason, and wouldn't, or couldn't, let go.
'Okay.. Rachel- THINK. You know that you don't have her phone number, you never exchanged it- what DO you have!?' She asked herself, running through all the things she'd gotten to do with Lila.
Her last resort was looking her up on the internet. That would take too long. There were probably a million Lilas, and she never got the last name-

An idea popped into her head. She slowly, carefully, and quietly reached into her bag, and pulled out the pictures. She held it up to the light, and there was backwards writing... but not on the front.
She, being a bit blonde, took a few moments to figure out how it got there, but then flipped it over, and the phone number was neatly printed right in the middle of the back side. And on EACH picture.
She quickly dialed the number, her hands shaking out of fear, and just listened as that horrid dial tone just kept ringing slower and slower.
'HURRY UP!' She demanded the phone.

Rachel nearly collapsed onto the shield as Lila answered, but she quickly turned back to that horrid I'm-going-to-die-soon-and-will-do-whatever-it-takes emotion.
"LILA!" She hissed into the phone. "It's me, Rachel- we need your help." She said, speaking as clearly as she could while still talking fast.
"Get over here NOW. That guy's back, and he tried to douse me in a little 'lava fun' and i barely survived. I think Clarisse's hurt- but that's not the most important thing yet." She said, realizing that ti COULD be the most important thing. "Anyway- go get a cab, and get over here! It's.. um.. well almost everyone knows where it IS. It's 'The Forge' that's just north of where you are. Tell that to the taxi cab man! he'll know.. he HAS to know the Rural areas around here or else he'll get fired from his job. Hurry! The man's coming closer, and i can't manage to sneak past him to get a weapon- his knife's too sharp-"
And that was all she could say before the shield was ripped out from where she was leaning on it, her phone snapped in half, and she was on her stomach, staring at those really old fashioned boots...

Rachel had been in silence for nearly a full minute, the ninja man probably smiling like crazy behind his mask, and holding the knife right above Rachel.
She slowly glanced around at her snapped-in-half phone, and then noticed Clarisse slowly, and ever so quietly sneaking away. Now, if the Ninja man had been paying attention, he might have seen her, but Rachel needed to make Clarisse more camouflaged as she walked.
So Rachel slowly got to a kneeling position, careful not to let her eyes give Clarisse's hiding away, but she knew it wouldn't last long. The nearest sword was at least three yards away, and it was in a glass case.

She could only hope that Lila would get there SOON.

Rachel couldn't really do much, but she couldn't let anyone else's moving sound distract the guy. So, she stood up, and started to back up, drawing that guy's attention as far as it would go, until lovely Lila came in.

She ran over and tackle hugged Lila as soon as she could. "Thank you SO much!" She cried, and then thought of how to explain it all.

Rachel looked back at Clarisse, who was already over by the emergency phone calling her mom. She needed to get this dangerous man out of here without much MORE harm.
"Okay." She said, and started to head to where she'd set her jacket down on the stairs in a small heap. "How cold is it outside?"
Then she smiled. It was hard to tell even when a bit of the cold was floating into the forge. So, instead of putting the jacket on, she tied it around her waist.
"Clarisse says she'll have the.. um.. -not exactly a word for them- digging machines done in about a week or so-" Was about all she could say before she heard a delivery truck up the stairs. So, she hurried up them, and then called over to Clarisse one last time. "The delivery's here! Talk to you later!" and then went up the stairs again, and waited for Lila, sulking a bit on the inside.

Rachel stood up when Lila came, and smiled a bit, but then frowned. There was so much to do that she couldn't help with, or better yet that Rachel couldn't help with, and she was frustrated.
"So what do we do now? Oh! how was your downtown... um... what WAS it you were downtown for again?" She asked, feeling a little hopeless. She was like that sometimes, and especially when she was supposed to BE hopeful.

Rachel smiled a bit. Must be pretty hard to be questioned hour after hour-
"Don't you have freedom of speech..? I mean- you don't HAVE to answer the questions at all." She said, and realized it was a good point. Then, she frowned. 'Now why would someone be stupid enough to SUPERGLUE something to the CEILING. I mean COME ON.' She asked herself, and then sighed. "Nor do you have to let them invade your personal space or anything.. i'd probably either have them questioning me until i cried, or i'd have them gone by now." She added.

Rachel let out a small 'pfft' at the fact that it was CRITICAL for them to get the information out of Lila.
'Well it's CRITICAL not to drive someone insane.' She continued in her head, and then looked up.
"Yeah.. um- okay. If i can jump from the trampoline to my roof -happened ONE time-.. how high IS your ceiling?" She asked, and estimating positive thoughts.

Rachel let out a bit of a laugh, and looked around.
"SO when do we go?" She asked absently, just waiting for an answer.

[[crap.. total writer's block.. sorry-]]

Rachel rolled her eyes, and followed. What she really wanted to know was WHO that ninja freak was, and WHY he was following her.
But she didn't really have time, and that was hardly possible since he had that really sharp blade.
So, she followed Lila into the cab, and shut the door, just shifting a bit. Rachel didn't really like the leather seats inside of a taxi, since they were usually sticky with some unknown substance, and she always got a little uneasy with that.
"So why is it glued to the ceiling again?" She asked.