Bound by Earth: The Nature Hunters Academy Series, Book 1

by Quinn Loftis

  “I’m glad you’re keeping things real and not holding back what you really think.”

  “You think I’m annoying and the death to all peaceful situations,” she pointed out.

  “That’s because it’s true.”

  Shelly tilted her head and gave Tara a “really” look.

  “Fine,” Tara conceded. “I can be a tad bit abrasive at times.”

  “Good to see you’re being honest with yourself. Keep that up, champ. I’d really like to dissect this whole ‘can’t be hurt or penetrated’ in further detail, and I will be texting or calling. But my parents are expecting me to cook dinner tonight, and I have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. You need a ride?” Shelly asked without missing a beat. Tara knew Shelly would no doubt blow her phone up at some point, but she appreciated that her friend could absorb things so quickly and roll with it.

  Tara shook her head. “I’m going to walk.”

  “Girl, it’s colder than a witch's teat out there.”

  “I like the cold. And do you really know how cold a witch’s teat is?” Tara laughed.

  “As cold as her wicked heart, I’m sure,” Shelly said with a wink.

  “Anyway, I like it when the sky is clear like it is tonight,” Tara said as she zipped up her bag and slipped on her shoes. She and Shelly walked out and locked the door. Coach Jones was sitting on one of the benches next to the locker room. He never left until all the players were gone.

  “I thought I was going to have to send a search party in after you two.” He huffed. “There was some shouting and hollering. You girls okay?”

  “We’re fine. Just a little pissed,” Tara said. The frustration in her voice was as much about the game as it was about the fact that she’d forgotten their Coach would be sitting outside the locker room when she’d told Shelly about her secret. It was a miracle he hadn’t come running into the room in some misguided attempt to rescue them and found Tara with scissors in her hand ready to stab herself.

  “Yep,” Shelly said, popping the p on the end of the word. Tara could tell she was trying to act nonchalant and failing miserably. Tara wanted to kick her. “Guess we will see you Monday, Coach.”

  He gave them an understanding nod. “Keep your chins up. You girls deserve to be going to the playoffs. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.”

  “That’s okay,” said Shelly. “A playoff game would have just meant I’d have to spend another game carrying this one on my back.” She indicated Tara. “No one wants that.”

  Coach Jones chuckled and shooed at them to get gone. Tara followed Shelly out to her car so Coach would think she was riding with her. He would never allow her to walk home. As soon as she saw his car leave the parking lot, she waved to Shelly and then headed off in the direction of her house. Carol lived only a mile away, so it really seemed ridiculous to drive there from the stadium if the weather wasn’t bad.

  Usually, her foster mom attended her games, but Carol was a nurse and sometimes she got called in to work a night shift if they were short on staff, which was why she hadn’t been there tonight. Tara really wished she would have been. Carol might have had some insight into the strangely familiar mountain of a man that was at the game. She could have offered up something more than Shelly’s creeper vibe and Tara’s weird idea that maybe he was long-lost family.

  As she walked, Tara tilted her head back and looked at the stars. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The bright celestial diamonds winked down at her and made her smile. She loved being outside. She loved the smell of rain and the rustle of trees. Tara would probably sleep outside if her foster mom would allow it. There was something about being connected to nature that gave her peace she never felt anywhere else.

  She rounded the corner to her street. After five years, Carol’s house almost felt like home … almost. But Tara missed the small ranch-style house with a one-car garage she and her parents had lived in before their deaths. That was home. But it was gone. Sold to some random, anonymous family. She wondered if that family had children. Did those kids climb the coffee tree in the backyard like she used to? Or sit on the brick hearth and read after their father made a fire in the fireplace as she once did? Tara wondered if she would ever really feel at home anywhere again.

  And she wondered if she would ever feel connected to anyone the way she felt connected to the natural world. Would she ever allow herself to be that close to someone? After the pain of losing her parents, she didn’t see how she could. She’d wrapped her heart in thick layers, and not even Carol had managed to get past them. Shelly was probably the only person who had come close to breaking through her walls. Despite the protection she’d attempted to give herself, Tara still hurt and felt lonely. She wanted to fit in somewhere. She needed to be a part of the world instead of just watching it happen around her. She wanted desperately to be able to let go of the anger that was always simmering in the background. She didn’t even understand what she was angry at. Her parents for dying? God for allowing them to die? The idiot driving the car who hit her parents? A combination of all three? Or was it the strange feeling that her parents’ accident wasn’t an accident at all?

  It wasn’t a thought that she’d ever voice out loud because it sounded completely absurd. Tara carried with her the memory of a dream. It seemed real to her, as if it was something she’d actually experienced, but she knew it couldn’t be. She remembered a voice telling her she’d one day find out who she really was. Tara had no idea what it meant. It was simply one more thing that made her feel like she was strange, different from everyone around her.

  She didn’t feel as though she was a part of the world, as if she somehow didn’t belong. As she walked into the quiet house, Tara wondered, not for the first time, if she was supposed to have died with her parents. If they had indeed been murdered and she’d been in the car with them, wasn’t she, too, a target? Had she somehow lived when that hadn’t been her fate?

  She sighed and shook her head. “You’re thinking too much, Tara,” she said quietly as she marched to the bathroom to wash the soccer stink off herself. She needed to shut down her mind. Tara wanted to finish out the three months she had left in high school, and then maybe she’d be able to figure out what she was supposed to do with her life. If she could just finish these last three months, then something was waiting for her. She just knew it. It seemed ridiculous, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more—something bigger than herself— and she was destined to be a part of it. Or, it could be she was reading too darn many fantasy novels.

  “Not giving the fantasy novels up,” she said to herself. Tara would rather live in her fantasy worlds than feel the emptiness of her real life. If only those worlds really existed. Maybe then she could quit fixating on the loss of her parents and begin to heal. Maybe fantasy worlds did exist. After all, if a person existed that couldn’t be injured, then maybe there was an entire unseen world out there filled with people just like her.

  Chapter 6

  Could you make a little less noise?” Zuri practically spat the words at Jax. The pair crouched behind a cluster of boulders on a ridge as they watched a beady-eyed gnome. The creature was riding on the shoulders of a giant golem made completely of large stones. New Mexican bedrock most likely, Jax thought, though he couldn’t be entirely certain from this distance.

  “What noise? I’m not making any noise,” he whispered. Jax was dressed in camouflage fatigues. He carried a pistol on his belt, as well as a large stone hammer slung across his back.

  “You’re breathing too loud,” replied Zuri.

  She was dressed similarly and also carried a semi-automatic weapon. Instead of a hammer, however, she carried a sheathed kris dagger. She fingered the weapon’s handle absentmindedly as she watched the golem and the gnome. The giant was dutifully following a deer hunter as he crept down a dirt path through the woods. The hunter couldn’t see the gnome or the stone golem, as the latter were both spirit beings of earth and completely invisible t
o the human eye.

  “You want me not to breathe?” he asked, his voice conveying just how ridiculous he found her request.

  “Right now? Yes. You sound like a yawning hippopotamus.”

  Jax bit back the sigh that was common when he was talking with his on-again, off-again lover. “You always did make me breathless, Zuri.”

  “Not now, Jax,” she growled, turning her attention back to the hunter, who was carrying a large caliber rifle in one hand and an aluminum can of beer in the other. By the way the man was swaying, it looked as if he’d already emptied a few of the cans that afternoon.

  “What’s he after, I wonder?” Zuri breathed as her eyes narrowed to slits.

  He smirked. “Judging by the caliber of the rifle, I’d say a buck. Though at this point, I’m sure the fool would shoot anything that crossed his path.”

  “Not him!” Zuri nearly growled. She’d been in a foul mood since they’d headed out on their current mission. “The gnome. Why is he following this guy out here all alone? Suicide? Accidental self-inflicted gunshot, maybe?”

  Jax chuckled. Not at the prospect of the hunter shooting himself, but at the fact he’d once again flustered Zuri. Did he like to poke her? Absolutely. He loved the way her cheeks turned rosy when she was angry with him. “Can’t say. But whatever it is, I’m sure it isn’t good. Should we take them now?” Jax rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He was eager for this hunt to be over, which wasn’t typical. Jax usually loved stalking the spirits for as long as possible before making his move, savoring every moment of the hunt, and especially every moment of the actual kill.

  “What’s your deal?” she asked, not taking her eyes off her target.

  There was really no point in trying to keep anything from her. She knew him too well. “I checked on one of my charges a couple of days ago. She will be graduating from high school in a few months.”

  “Okay…and?”

  It wasn’t unusual for those who had identified potential nature hunters to check in on them, especially if they were close to reaching the age where they would be recruited to the academy.

  “There were two acolytes there. One was water, the other fire. They were young and didn’t look dangerous, but they had to have been up to something.”

  “Two different elements in one place?” Zuri asked, her alarm evident in the slightly raised sound of her voice. “Were they operating together?” It was extremely unusual for dark acolytes to work together. Even the academies of the light elementalists merely tolerated one another.

  “No,” he answered. “They weren’t near one another. But I couldn’t figure out which students they were there for. I didn’t see marks on anyone other than my own charge. I can’t understand why water or fire would be interested in my girl.”

  “Did you notice any dark spirits?”

  That was the kicker. Jax had felt several, and possibly more, dark elementals lurking about, but he’d never been able to get a read on them. He’d never actually seen them. “I felt them,” he admitted. “Have you ever heard of dark elementals being able to shield their physical form from us?”

  Just as Zuri opened her mouth to answer, she paused and cocked her head. “What’s that?”

  Jax narrowed his eyes and cocked his own head, pushing all thoughts of his visit to Kentucky from his mind. He heard singing coming from somewhere down the path. It was faint but growing louder. The gnome giggled. The golem merely marched on, stone-faced. The hunter staggered forward, seemingly still unaware anyone else was present.

  “Crap! Boy Scouts,” said Jax. He knew Zuri’s wide eyes surely matched his own. “That’s why he’s here. We need a distraction. Now!” He’d have to try and figure out what was going on with Tara and those other elementals after they’d dealt with the current problem.

  “I’m on it!” Zuri slammed her hand on the ground and closed her eyes. “The closest deer is over a quarter-mile away.”

  “Get it here, now,” commanded Jax. Zuri swore again and began chanting under her breath. Zuri’s had the unique ability to reach out to animals. It wasn’t a common gift even among the strongest Natura Venatori. It came in handy. And in moments like this, Jax was very thankful she had it.

  The singing grew louder. And so did the gnome’s giggles. Jax stared helplessly as the hunter continued down the path. He wanted to stop the man, but he didn’t want to risk the evil earth gnome seeing him and ruining his element of surprise, not just yet.

  Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya

  Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya

  Someone’s crying, Lord. Kumbaya

  Someone’s crying, Lord. Kumbaya

  Jax could make out the lyrics. He watched the path and fidgeted. If the Boy Scouts appeared, he’d have to reveal himself. He couldn’t risk what the gnome would do. It was clear now what the evil spirit’s plan was. A shove in the right direction at just the right time and the inebriated hunter’s gun goes off. Boom. One dead child. Another soul dragged to the underworld by a rogue earth spirit. Jax couldn’t let that happen.

  Someone’s crying, Lord. Kumbaya

  Someone’s crying, Lord. Kumbaya

  The signing grew louder. It sounded as if the troop was directly around the bend. Jax rose, preparing himself to jump. Just then a huge buck burst through the trees and crossed the path right in front of the hunter. The man’s gun went off before he even raised it. He swore and then bolted into the woods after the animal.

  Now, it was the gnome’s turn to swear. “Venators!” he hissed and pointed to Jax and Zuri, who were now barreling down the slope toward him with weapons raised. “Kill them.” The golem bellowed and charged in response to the gnome’s command. When they were within a few yards of one another, the gnome leaped from the top of the golem. He hit the ground and rolled, disappearing as he did so, seeming to melt into the ground itself.

  “I’ve got the little one,” shouted Zuri.

  “You always give me the hard jobs,” Jax said as he raised his hammer.

  “You’re built for it,” she shouted, not even slightly out of breath despite rushing down the hill. “Not to mention you couldn’t find a spirit underground if the thing was wearing a tracking device and had a flashing sign over its head.”

  “One of these days that mouth is going to get you in trouble.” Jax swung the hammer in a high arc and brought it down upon the golem’s rocky pate. There was a resounding crack like thunder, and the golem staggered back. A piece of stone broke off from the back of the monster’s massive boulder of a head and flew away. The golem shook the remaining rock that was its head and roared at Jax. The man swung again. This time the golem was ready. It caught the haft of the hammer with its large stone hands, stopping the weapon in its path.

  “Why do these things have to have such damn hardheads?” Jax growled as he and the golem strained against one another. Jax’s large muscles flexed and bulged. The monster’s muscles, being simply rocks infused with the gnome’s earth-spirit power, didn’t bulge or flex. They simply were. And that was enough. Eventually, the earth spirit’s strength won out, and the monster ripped the hammer from Jax’s grasp. Without hesitation, the thing began swinging the hammer wildly at Jax. The man began to scramble, ducking and jumping the monster’s wild swings. Jax was quicker than the golem, but not by much. He began to circle it, hoping to keep the monster unbalanced.

  “Hurry up, Zuri,” he snapped as he forced himself to keep his eyes on his opponent and not check on her. Jax knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to keep her safe. And that thought made others arise in his mind, but he refused to examine his feelings for Zuri too closely right now … or ever.

  “Keep your pants on,” came the reply.

  “It’s not my pants I’m worried about. It’s my head.”

  The golem raised the hammer high and brought it down in a particularly lumbering motion, overbalancing itself. Jax saw his opening. He closed the distance and wrapped his arms around the be
ast, trying to tackle it to the ground. Jax might as well have tried to tackle the Washington Monument. The golem didn’t budge. But Jax had accomplished his main goal—not getting his head bashed in. Now that Jax had closed the distance, the thing didn’t have room to swing the hammer. The golem—mostly mindless—had enough sense to realize the weapon was no longer any good to him. It dropped the hammer and brought its giant fists down on the middle of Jax’s back. Had the elemental hunter not refreshed his rock armor enchantments that very morning, the force of the blow probably would have snapped his spine. Instead, it just knocked the wind out of him and flattened him to the ground … and hurt … really, really badly. Jax wheezed as he rose to his knees.

  “Zuri…” he groaned.

  “Almost got him. Hang in there, big fella,” Zuri replied from the spot where she knelt on the ground.

  “Easy for you to saaayyyyyy!!” Jax’s voice rose along with his body as the golem snatched the man up and lifted Jax over his head. Jax had the physique of a human bodybuilder who would naturally weigh more than three hundred pounds. With all the spells and enchantments he had undergone over the many years of his long life, Jax’s body was now more rocks and minerals than flesh and bone. Truth be told, he was probably more earth golem than man, physiologically, at least. And that made him weigh at least three times what he normally would. Still, the golem lifted him like a balloon filled with helium. The monster spun in a circle twice and flung Jax. He landed with a thud a dozen yards away and skidded across the ground, tearing up the foliage and earth as he went.

  The golem roared and then turned in a slow circle until its stone eyes found Zuri. She stopped chanting momentarily and tried to look around the giant to where Jax lay on the ground. “Uh, Jax, you still with me, buddy?”

  He couldn’t answer because the wind had been sufficiently knocked out of him. As he lifted his head he saw the golem lumbering toward her.