“I originally thought it was due to a hive mind,” she added.
“Me too,” Sara had been lurking in the kitchen. She stayed out of the conversations all evening, but she could see Abby was in need of support.
Others muttered their agreements. “Hive mind,” Joseph repeated. “I had believed this as well. Our powers strengthen if we work together.”
“We’ve never had such a large group gathered at once,” Todd joined his brothers.
“We haven’t had any need to use our powers, but I believe we are all just as strong as Lilah,” Abby finished up.
Everyone looked at each other. Myles blurted out, “Well I don’t think we should attempt anything tonight.”
“No,” Brian agreed.
“Perhaps in the morning we can devise a test. Something we can do outside,” Joseph said more to himself than the rest of the group.
“Yes,” Brian was still uncertain this was the reason behind Lilah’s strength and was devising a plan of his own. “Let us all turn in now. We will need to be rested.”
Everyone made their way to their rooms except for Brian who hung back to prepare for the morning.
Chapter Sixteen
Marcus and Leena were enjoying the summer breeze while working their crops. Their younger children had helped them most of the morning, but after lunch, they turned them loose to play and explore with the other children in the village. Life was much different now than it had been for them the first few years after they were finally able to meet.
Four long years had been spent living in cave after cave as they tried to find a community somewhere who would welcome them. Leena had never questioned Marcus when he repeatedly refused to make the slightest approach to anyone they found as they traveled. He never explained to her his gift and what he was capable of doing. He didn’t have to. They learned shortly after the first night when he saved her life that she was able to read his mind just as clearly as he could read hers.
For many years, he believed it was merely a gift the Divine Spirit bestowed for his success in doing as ordered. It would be learned in time the way all of the Elements were punished and what gifts each of them retained. The Air faction would have almost unlimited psychic power and immortality. They also had the ability to painlessly change their appearance to any form they chose to take on. The only thing they couldn’t do was age themselves. This meant when a peaceful people were found, they couldn’t stay long. There would be questions regarding their youthful looks and would become the hunted as anything that is unknown has always been perceived as a threat.
Leena never balked at any of it even as Marcus began sharing details of who he was with her, she only ever listened. It was almost like she already knew in some way. She told him once that she knew he was different the moment she set her eyes on him. She knew he was unlike any person she had known or heard tales of before. Somehow she also felt a stillness that told her she was safe with him.
Their first child, Joseph, came quietly. Leena was blessed with an easy birth. Her recovery from which was fast as all healing is for them. The pending arrival of their second child made Marcus feel pressured to find them a home, and he did days before Chloe was born.
That was three villages ago. They were now blessed with twelve children, and they would never have to move again. The Shaman of this people was expecting their arrival. He told tales of the visions he had received that remarkable visitors would be arriving and should be treated with the utmost respect. No one in the village questioned why they didn’t age or how they healed so quickly. They also refused the use of Marcus’ gifts.
When their chief suffered a terrible accident that resulted in a painful death, Marcus offered to try to heal him. He had no idea at the time if it would work, but he wanted to do something for them after all the help they’d extended to his young family when they arrived. The chief refused. His death was a part of a greater design that no one had the right to interfere with even if they held the power.
They would learn from the Shaman that their blood did in fact carry healing properties which is why they were so healthy and suffered pain briefly as their injuries healed at an amazing rate of speed. Their blood would also turn back the wheel of the sun for anyone who consumed it. To heal the chief would have also meant rewinding his years. Marcus had been warned that there were those who would always seek to find this magical fountain of youth. If they were ever discovered, it would prove a tragic outcome for all of them.
So the chief’s spirit was sent to the sky, and his son took over leading the village. Marcus, Leena and their children found other ways to contribute and helped as much and as often as they could. Leena shared the knowledge of irrigation she brought from her home, and Marcus predicted the hunts.
It had been over twenty years they had lived in peace with them. Some of their own children were now adults still living in the same village, but in separate huts. They had all been blessed with the gifts as well that Marcus received. Now that they had sent the younger children on their way, there was no doubt they were pestering their older siblings who were trying to work themselves. Marcus laughed at the thought, but knew they would either wind up helping out or be sent back home quick enough.
Marcus and Leena enjoyed the peace while they worked the land. Time passed quickly when it was just the two of them working efficiently without interruption. A cry for help shot through Marcus’ thoughts like a spear had been aimed carefully at the middle of his forehead tunneling through to the other side. Leena had already dropped her tools and was running through the field. She’d received the same alarm.
He quickly followed his wife into the nearby village following the cries that came faster and more urgent. The children were at the stream, and Martin was in trouble. As fast as their unnatural speed was, Marcus feared they wouldn’t make it in time.
Martin couldn’t wait to be done in the fields for the day. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him to find his brother Brian. They were only three years apart, but they were as close as twins. Inseparable since the day Martin was born, Brian had always looked after him. His brother was an aide to the chief being groomed to have a larger role in the tribal council one day, but the chief never minded having Martin around so long as he behaved.
Today, he couldn’t find him, and it upset him immensely. At the wise old age of fifteen, Brian could do no wrong in his eyes. He walked through the huts of the village moping and hoping he would find him somewhere, but he knew that most likely he was on a hunt or out scouting.
That’s when he ran into Chloe. She was much older and had long ago started to develop her powers. Something she loved to dangle in front of the younger ones who hadn’t yet come into theirs.
“Why are you running about instead of helping mom and dad?” she asked him sternly.
“They told us we could have the remains of the day.”
“Oh, and you came running to find Brian,” she laughed.
“No!” he shot back. “I walked… Mostly.”
That only made her laugh harder. “They’re checking traps. You can go if you want, but they’ve been at it since dawn. They’ll be back soon.”
That filled him with hope that he’d still have some time to spend with Brian before the day grew old, and he would have to return home for supper.
“What are you going to do?”
“What?” Martin asked her.
“Are you going after him or not?”
“No, I’ll wait.”
She walked in the doorway of her hut and looked back to ask, “Want to help me a minute? I might be able to find something to give you if you do.”
“Like what?”
Chloe looked out of the corner of her eyes in thought. “How about some beads for mom?”
“That’s for mom not for me.”
“Yes, but the anniversary of her birth will soon be here.”
Martin thought it over. It wasn’t too exciting, but it was better than doing nothing while he waited.
“What do I have to do?”
“Help me carry a basket to the stream.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes, that’s it, and help me carry it back.”
Martin groaned. He knew there would be more to it.
“I’ll be back long before Brian. I promise.”
“Fine,” he said in a huff. “I guess I’ll help.”
She went inside and carried out two baskets then made another trip in for a third which she handed to Martin to carry. Soon they were off on a well walked path through the trees to the nearby stream.
“You don’t have to be his shadow,” she told him as they walked.
“I’m not!” Martin objected.
Chloe’s light laughter filled the woods and sent birds to flight. “You are, dear brother. Why do you think the chief calls you Shadow Bear? The names we are given have meaning. Yours is no different.”
“Because I’m strong and mighty like a bear!” Martin insisted. That’s what father had always told him. “And our skin is darker than the people of the tribe. Shadow Bear.”
“Unh-huh,” she eyed him. “Think about it a little bit harder than that.”
Martin still didn’t understand what she was trying to imply. Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the trail and almost dropped the basket of hides and other garments he carried.
Not hearing his footfall behind her anymore, Chloe turned around. The expression on his face indicated he had figured it out. “What’s on your mind, brother?”
“Brian,” he said.
“Yes?”
“The chief calls him Fighting Bear.”
“And you, dear one, you are the Shadow of Fighting Bear. Shadow Bear for short.”
He knew it should make him mad. Rather, he knew she was trying to make him mad, but it didn’t work. It was a good thing to be named off his brother he thought. Wasn’t it?
They made it to the stream, and Chloe wandered in to start her washing. Martin was headed in right after her when she stopped him.
“Take the bottom basket I brought. The empty one. Gather some blackberries in it.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Martin whined.
“True. I’ll add some of the dried venison you love, and you can eat as many blackberries as you’d like.”
It sounded like a good deal to Martin’s ears. Taking the basket with him, he headed to the brush along the bank about fifty yards down where the berries grew wild. Even popping one in his mouth for about every ten berries that he picked, it didn’t take long to fill the basket over halfway full. There was no need in overfilling it only to spill them on the walk back. Besides, Chloe never said how many he needed to gather.
He walked back to where he had left her, but she wasn’t there. The baskets were still sitting on the bank as well as all the garments they had brought. It was evident she had finished her chore, but he didn’t know where she might have gone. As he looked around in a circle, he heard her call his name.
“Martin!”
It sounded a little ways off. Looking down the bank of the stream to see if that’s where she went, he caught movement from the corner of his eye. He was dumbfounded. “How did you get over there?” he yelled out.
Chloe stood on the far side of the stream. She must’ve gone for a swim which made Martin jealous since he had been doing her work while she was having fun.
“Watch this!” she yelled out to him.
Martin watched, but Chloe didn’t do anything except stand there. It looked like she was staring at the middle of the stream. He kept waiting for something, but nothing ever happened. Right as he was going to yell out to her, he saw it.
Slowly the water in the stream stopped running along its natural course. The water rose up high in the air and arced over about ten feet before curving back down to where the stream flowed. It looked like a water bridge in midair. Under the bridge, there was nothing except the muddy stream bed. Somehow his sister had managed to alter the course of the water leaving an opening like a tunnel.
Chloe formed a circle with her lips and blew hard. The wind traveled across drying out the mud as it went until it reached Martin on the other side knocking him down. There was still water traveling on either side of the dry open path which seemed to defy the laws of how a stream flows.
He watched as his sister carefully walked down the far stream bank into the cleared out area then walk across to reach him on the other side. The water level on either side of her was easily up to her waist most of the way, but in the middle of the stream, it was almost to the top of her head not including the wet bridge that circled over her. Once she climbed up the bank using the roots from a nearby tree close to Martin, she flashed him a bright smile. “What do you think?”
“How did you do that?”
“You know how, little brother,” she scoffed.
“But how did you know you could do that?”
Chloe sat on the ground and got a handful of berries from the basket to snack on. “I didn’t. I dropped something in the stream one day. While I was looking for it, I somehow dispersed the water around me. Like a much smaller version of what I just did.”
“You can move water,” he blankly said, looking at her in amazement.
“Not exactly.”
“But you did! I saw it!”
Chloe pulled her knees to her chest and tugged on Martin’s arm to pull him down next to her. “Watch,” she instructed. Taking a deep breath, she formed her lips into a circle and blew out hard. The water in front of them dented in like an obstacle had suddenly appeared in its path.
“Oh,” Martin said not entirely sure he understood.
“It’s quite difficult, you know. It takes a lot of wind to do what I just did, and I have to force the hot air to dry the bed. I could get stuck in the mud if I didn’t.”
Martin rolled his eyes at her not believing it.
“It’s true. Especially nearer the middle of the bed. The muddy slop there could come up to my knees easily.”
He played with a twig near his feet drawing lines in the dirt. It had been the most amazing thing he’d ever seen someone in the family do with their powers, but he couldn’t admit that. Not to Chloe. There was a discord creeping in his mind torn between knowing one day he would have the abilities and wishing he had them now.
“I’ve just been trying every time I come down to the stream ever since to do it again and to do it better.” Chloe continued.
“This was better,” he told her enthusiastically.
She laughed. “Yes, this was definitely better.”
“Can I try?”
“Martin, you haven’t come into your abilities yet. You know that.”
He put his hands on his hips. “No, can I walk across the bottom of the stream like you did?”
“You want me to clear it for you?”
“Yes!” he cried happy she understood. “I want to do it too.”
Chloe shook her head and ate some more berries.
“Why not?”
“Father and mother don’t like for us to play with our abilities for one. I’m taking a chance just doing it for me. Plus, if anything happened to you,” she looked him in the eye and softened her tone, “I would never forgive myself.”
“Nothing’s going to happen.”
She stood up and brushed the dirt off. “You don’t know that.”
“The worst that can happen is I get in the water and float downstream a bit. I’ll get wet. It’s not like I can die from it.”
Chloe thought it over. There was a part of her who wished she had come into the ability to see the future already. Then she would know for sure if it was safe to let him do it. He did have a point. The worst thing that could happen was he’d get wet. She knew there was a lot more that could go wrong. Martin could get injured, washed a long way down, or many other possibilities, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed easily enough.
“Alright, but you have to promise not to say a word about this.”
�
�I promise,” Martin happily agreed, jumping to his feet.
“I mean it. Not just that I let you do it, but father and mother can’t find out what I’m doing at all.”
“I promise!” he cried out with a huge smile plastered on his face unable to contain his excitement.
Chloe laughed and stood next to him. “Pay attention. I have to focus, so I need you to remember and do exactly what I say.”
“I will,” Martin promised.
She explained that first she would clear the water making a path across the stream. Next, she had to send the hot wind to dry the bed. “The mud in the middle of the stream is unforgiving. If you tried to walk in it, you’d probably sink like quicksand.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” he still didn’t believe her.
“You wouldn’t sink completely, Martin, but you’d probably get stuck in it.”
He shrugged which was the closest to an agreement she would get from him.
“I need you to wait until I tell you it’s time to cross, understand?”
Martin jumped up and down eagerly waiting for his chance to run across the bottom of the stream with the water towering over his head.
“Do you understand?” Chloe repeated sharply.
“Yes,” Martin groaned. “Wait for your signal. I got it. Do it already!”
She chuckled at his enthusiasm then turned to focus on the water flowing in front of her. She had to start over twice after scolding Martin to be still both times. The constant movement he was making was distracting her and breaking her concentration.
He took a couple steps back to be behind her, so she couldn’t see him jump and dance with delight. This was by far the most fun he had with his family’s abilities. Normally, no one wanted to use them for anything except to practice when they first developed. Practice was boring, and there was nothing he could do to participate in it in any way except watch.
The water of the stream parted, and Martin couldn’t stand still. He bounced up and down behind his sister trying to wait for the signal telling him to go.
Chloe began blowing the hot wind along the bed floor, and in doing so, brought her arms forward to guide it through the divide. From the corner of her eye, she saw the low hanging dead branch of the tree near the bank swaying violently in the wind and start to crack. It had been too far to notice when she did this from the far side of the stream.
Air: The Elementals: Book One Page 19
