Earth: The Elementals Book Two

by Jennifer Lush

  Even the good day they had at the market couldn’t clear her troubled mind. Solving this dilemma was her priority. She would need to figure out what to do soon. She let it take over her thoughts well into the night after her children were fast asleep.

  “Are you going to share with me your burden?” Daniel asked her shortly before they turned in themselves.

  Anya wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t want to lie to her husband, but she wasn’t sure she could tell him the truth either.

  “Is it the rabbit?” he asked. “Shall we set it free?”

  “No, I rather like him,” she smiled at him, wanting to ease his mind that it wasn’t his decision to bring home yet another creature that had been bothering her.

  “Then tell me what is wrong. I don’t like seeing your mind so heavy with worry.”

  “Do you think I look young?”

  His eyes widened, and he sunk into a full belly laugh. It irritated her that he would insist she talk to him only to make fun of her worries. She rose from the table and headed to their room.

  “Stop,” he said, still laughing. “Come back.”

  Anya walked back to her chair and sat dutifully.

  “Yes, you look young, but that is because you are not old, my love,” he told her, and reached for her hand.

  She sighed. “The woman at the market said I looked no older than I did when Little Daniel was a baby.”

  “You don’t,” he agreed, without giving it a thought. “You are a tree sprite! I wouldn’t expect age to affect you in the same manner it attacks everyone else.”

  Anya took her hand back from him, and his eyes lit up playfully. He had been calling her a tree sprite since the night he found her in the woods. Sometimes she enjoyed it, but at times like this when his words hit too close to the truth, she did not. It was hard to have a serious discussion with him about the matters on her mind when all he did was make light of them.

  “Listen to me now. I have known since the moment we met you were unlike any woman I had ever known,” he tilted his head. “You don’t show your age as fast as others do. This is a good thing.”

  “It is?” she asked.

  “Yes! My wife will always be the envy of other men who have wives showing their years.”

  She waved her hand at him and went to bed. He joined her soon after and laid behind her, holding her in her arms. He kissed the back of her neck and told her, “If it bothers you so much, put some chalk in your hair. Let people believe it is your age turning it white.”

  Anya rolled her eyes then realized that is exactly what she must do. Not chalk of course, but she must cast the changes herself. She lay awake concocting the spell in her mind before allowing her eyes to close. In the morning, she would gather the ingredients while doing chores and would cast it before they headed to market. With any luck, a wrinkle or gray hair would start to appear in no time at all. She had to cover her mouth at the thought. She didn’t want Daniel to waken and ask her if she was mad, laughing in the darkness at nothing. She knew she had to be the first to ever look forward to signs of old age.

  In the morning while everyone was busy with chores and loading up the wagon to head to the marketplace, Anya busied herself in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She nervously went about gathering what she needed. It would be too risky to cast a circle now, and she had considered waiting for a better opportunity. It was too pressing for her to put it off any longer, so a potion would suffice. Stirring the pot on the side of the hearth, she hoped it would be ready before her family bounded back inside, wondering what she was making. This potion would work, but it was missing something.

  “Molasses!” She let the word come out in her excitement without meaning for it. Glancing around, she listened to her family working nearby, trying to determine if anyone paid attention to her outburst. Certainly no one outside heard her. She added some molasses to the pot to make the effects take hold slowly.

  Anya walked to the windows to check her family’s progress. She didn’t want anyone walking in on her. It looked like she still had time. She stood before the hearth stirring the pot and recited her chant.

  ‘That’s it,’ she thought. She removed the small pot carefully and poured it into a mug. It would need to cool before she could drink it. She got the table ready for the meal, and brought the food from the hearth. She scowled at the set up. She was thankful for the chickens as they provided well for her children, but there were only so many ways to prepare eggs.

  The voices outside were getting closer which told her they would be at the door any moment. She hurried to the counter and drank down her potion as fast as she could. It was disgusting. ‘As it should be,’ she thought. For most, the thought of growing old disgusts them. She finished it off just in time. She set the mug down as Daniel burst through the door. Her face was scrunched up and her eyes tightly closed in reaction to the horrid taste slowly sliding down her throat. ‘Ah, yes, there’s the molasses,’ she joked to herself.

  When she opened her eyes, there was Daniel and her children staring at her. “I experimented something new with the mead,” she told them.

  “I take it you won’t make it that way again then,” Daniel joked. He took a piece of bread from the table. “Here. This should help.”

  Anya took it and ate it greedily. It did help move everything down, but the flavor was still there. Her family didn’t take their eyes off of her. “Better, thank you. Let’s eat,” she said, wanting to move to the table where she hoped she could get the taste out of her mouth.

  Mealtime was always a joyous occasion for them. They were truly blessed. Their three sons were healthy and able, witty and strong. There was always enough food on the table for all to be full and content. Today was no different as she listened to her sons chat happily about their new rabbit. They had wasted no time last night constructing a cage for it, but Geoffrey decided that the rabbit needed freedom. The boys woke in a panic and spent several minutes searching for their new friend when they awoke. Its luck that the rabbit didn’t find his way outside where his real freedom would await.

  She became aware that Daniel was watching her without looking at him. His gaze was penetrating as though he were looking through her. He often did this. He would watch her at the most random moments, and when she caught his stare, he would tell her it can’t be helped because she’s so beautiful. Sometimes it made her uneasy when she was set upon a task. She would not want a witness to any mistakes she might make. Here and now in this moment, she didn’t mind. She could feel the love he felt for her shine through his eyes and saturate her skin.

  “Would you look at that?”

  Anya turned to her husband who was still watching her intently. She crinkled her brows together and asked, “Look at what?”

  “As I live and breathe, I just watched a white streak appear in your hair.”

  Fear filled her eyes and she reached both hands to her head. It wasn’t supposed to work like this she worried frantically. It was supposed to age her slowly. She rushed to their room for a little trinket box that had shiny sides. It was the only mirrored like surface they had. It was too dark to see anything. She took it outside to look in the morning light.

  Daniel remained calm, watching her as she hurried through the home with the box to the door. She thought she had found a solution, but now what would she do. It would be difficult to fix this now when they would be leaving soon. She had no reason to skip the market this morning. They all knew she was well. She bit the corner of her lip and fought to keep the tears at bay as she panicked thinking the only option might be to flee from them. That was what she had been trying to avoid with this potion.

  Once safely outside and away from the windows where spying eyes might see her, she took a deep breath and held the box up to look at herself on its side. She saw nothing. She moved the box from side to side and over her head. All she saw was her long shiny black hair.

  She marched back into the house irritated at the joke that she did not find funny.
She walked to Daniel and demanded, “There is no streak. Why would you play those games?”

  “It is right there,” he said, pointing to the side of her face.

  “Where?” she asked, bringing the box to the window hoping there would be enough light to see.

  Daniel walked over and stood behind her. He took the box and held it with one hand then tilted her head slightly with the other. “Right here,” he said, holding out a small section of hair.

  Anya still couldn’t see anything. She took the section of hair from his hand and pulled it around in front of her face. There were only a few strands of gray, hardly anything she would call a streak. Relieved it wasn’t anything like Daniel made it seem, her fear was replaced with anger. If Daniel had simply said a few white strands were noticeable instead of making it sound like she had a skunk stripe, they would all be finishing up their meal by now. She whipped around to face him so fast he had no warning to move away from her. She hit her head on the side of the trinket box, he was still holding high. The pain was immediate and severe. She brought her hand up to her temple.

  He dropped the box and looked at her head. There was some blood, but it was only a small scratch. “It’s not too bad,” he told her. “Come. Let’s get the wound cleaned.”

  Anya sat down and let him tend to her. Daniel soaked a rag with some fresh water and wiped the small cut. “It’s nothing,” he reassured her again.

  She pointed to the box still lying on the floor, and he fetched it for her. She held it up studying the cut. He was right. It was barely more than a scratch, but it throbbed fiercely.

  “Would you like for me to make a poultice for it?”

  It didn’t need any dressing. She was sure of it and told him so.

  “I’m sorry, love.”

  There was guilt in his eyes, but Anya knew it was an accident. She had done it to herself. No matter how guilty he looked, she couldn’t help herself from not being over what brought them into this mess. “It’s only a few strands. You had me believe I had a whole streak of white in my hair! I thought I turned into a skunk.”

  He kissed her head near her wound then wrapped the hair where the gray strands were around his fingers. “But I watched them appear.”

  The trinket box was in her lap, and she looked at her reflection on the side even though she couldn’t see the strands of white. Studying her looks, she thought about how her potion had worked. Soon her face and skin would show signs of aging as well. “The gray didn’t just appear. My hair must have shifted as I moved, revealing them off to you.”

  “Look at that!” Daniel said with surprise.

  She turned her head up to him. He was staring at the top of her head again. Not more gray hair she thought. She didn’t expect the potion to work like this, but there was no way to guarantee the results until she tried it. In her haste to get the aging underway, no time had been planned to allow to fix anything if it went horribly wrong. In hind sight, she should have waited until after everyone had gone to bed that night. It would’ve been much safer.

  He pointed near where her head throbbed, and remarked, “Now, you’ve got a red streak as well,” he winked at her.

  She playfully pushed him back. “Enough of you for today. We need to ready ourselves to leave. We’re late.”

  They made quick work of clearing the table and cleaning up to head to the marketplace. Anya sat beside Daniel, and their children rode in the back of the wagon.

  “It is odd, don’t you think?” Daniel commented

  “What?”

  “It was only last night, you were worried about your youthful looks then this morning, your hair has begun to gray.”

  He looked at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. She knew an accusation, or at the very least a question, would surely follow. One that she was not prepared to answer.

  “It can only mean one thing.”

  Anya braced herself for what he would say next. She had always known this day would come. Her vivid dreams that gave her insight of future events often had her crying out in her sleep which disturbed Daniel and brought on endless questions. The way she always seemed to have luck in choosing the best spot for the hunt was more than coincidence or intuition. It was winter four years ago when she had the foresight to know exactly what herbs to hoard for the illness her family would face. Nicholas certainly would not have made it through that year if it hadn’t been for her preparations. It was time for her husband to piece things together to figure out the truth.

  “You are a tree sprite!” Daniel said with a hearty laugh.

  The relief poured over her like a downpour. She had grown tired of his old joke over the years always proclaiming her to be a sprite because of how they found each other in the woods. She was overjoyed to hear it once more at this moment.

  She rested her head on his arm, and he kissed the top of her head. She had met him going on twelve years ago, and she spent almost every day of those years in fear. Fear of being discovered for what she really was. One day there would be an accusation that could be quite consequential for her and her family. Some people passed witches off with a wave of their hand as though it was not for anyone to have alarm. There were those however who treated anyone different as something that should be banished.

  There was also fear of the Return. She often dreamed of returning to her true home, but it would mean leaving her family behind. They would endure, and once in the spiritual realm, her human emotions would disappear. There would be no pain or longing. She knew this with absolute certainty, but she was also just as certain that she wasn’t fully ready to leave.

  After this, the worst of all the scares experienced so far, she decided she would not let this fear rule her anymore. She would enjoy the time they had together for however long it lasts. While she may be able to alter her looks to appear to age, her family would grow old around her. Their days were finite where hers would continue until the Elements successfully completed the Return. It could be this year, or it could be in a hundred years. She would not let her worry stand in the way of anything anymore.

  Chapter Eleven

  The bonfire was tonight, and Everleigh could sense something was coming. It had been floating on the air for days now, but it was getting stronger. Something told her it wasn’t the storm that she had been preparing for, but it was connected somehow. Whenever her thoughts turned to the party, the sensation got stronger. There was always the option to not go just in case something was going to happen there, but she hadn’t been able to talk Jackson out of it.

  He had met some girl briefly, and now he acted like the moon rose and set in her eyes. It was sickening. All he had talked about since last night was the dark haired, sun kissed girl from the restaurant. At least the mystery woman now had a name, Lilah.

  Everleigh was a smidge jealous. There had been other girlfriends, sure. Jackson was good looking by anyone’s standards and had no problems finding a girl for his arm. There had never been one he had taken to as much as this one. Definitely not as fast as this one. She was used to being the only woman in his life. That’s how it had been since as long as she could remember when her grandma began babysitting him. They were only friends and would only ever be friends, and she was happy with their friendship. She wasn’t used to having to compete with another woman for his attention, and it was something she wasn’t looking forward to getting used to. The worst part would be all the secret keeping and having to act a certain way around her until they knew she could be trusted. That’s if that day ever came. It never had with any of the other girls who had caught his eye before this one.

  Reluctantly, she had agreed to let Amber tag along. Most of the cousins were eagerly working on the craft in their free time from school, but not Amber. It was always a struggle getting her to focus on anything. Part of it was because everything was starting to come more natural to her than the others. That didn’t mean it was time to scoff at the practice work thinking you didn’t need it anymore. Yet that was exactly how Amber was
treating it.

  The main reason why their grandma heavily encouraged Everleigh to take her along was because she needed a break from trying to teach Amber as much as Amber needed a break from the work. Many times since their arrival, Everleigh had assisted with the lessons or took over completely. It went without explanation as far as she was concerned why her grandma needed the night off from time to time.

  There were three other cousins who would be staying back while the two ladies went out. At first, there were many objections over being left out of the fun, but they were a couple years younger than Amber. Most of the people at the bonfire would be college age, so taking a high school senior along was the most Everleigh would want to push things anyway. They didn’t like it, but they did understand why they were staying behind.

  Everleigh grabbed a water to bring with her from the refrigerator on her way to the front of the house. While she stood there taking a swig from the bottle, she looked at the calendar on the freezer door which her grandma was using to track earthquakes. The number of disasters were increasing daily, and it was becoming more and more worrisome.

  Humans didn’t have a clue. Most of the ones who did notice an increase in anything chalked it up to natural patterns over Earth’s history. It would make sense to them because they don’t have the key knowledge that the current pattern of these events started to slowly build up after the Elements took human form. There isn’t an accurate record of anything prior to their arrival for a scientist to make the connection that something drastically changed a millennium ago.

  As she stood there, writing began to appear. Everleigh was startled until she turned to see her grandma standing in the doorway, not knowing she had popped out of the sunroom where the girls were working for a minute. Looking back at the words that were forming, she read out loud, “Liberty, Maine – 5.7 magnitude. Maine?” she asked, not turning away. “Have they ever had an earthquake before?”