Elemental

by Antony John

  “Why keep it a secret, though?”

  “Maybe the Guardians didn’t want us to know that all this was lost,” she said, sweeping her hand across the map.

  “Do you honestly believe that?”

  “Not at all. And neither do you, which is progress. But then, maybe we don’t have all the information. If we ever see them again, I sure have a lot of questions I’d like to ask.”

  I studied the map, and tried to imagine what that much land would look like. Barely a moment passed before Alice inhaled sharply.

  She pointed toward the bridge. “They’re crossing.”

  “What?” I pressed the binoculars to my eyes and focused. The pirates weren’t hard to see—there were about thirty of them on the bridge. They ambled along like they had all the time in the world. Maybe I was being paranoid, but it felt deliberate, as though Dare wanted us to know he was in no hurry because we had nowhere left to run. “There’s so many of them!”

  “Keep your voice down,” snapped Alice. “There’s no need to make Rose—”

  Footsteps scuffed the road behind us. “No need to make me what?” demanded Rose.

  Alice tilted her head toward the bridge. “The pirates are coming.”

  Rose didn’t seem affected by the news at all. Instead she watched Alice and me, our arms almost touching, heads locked conspiratorially over a mysterious map we hadn’t yet shared.

  “We should head behind the shelter,” I said. “Get out of sight.”

  Rose pursed her lips. “Why bother? They know we’re here.”

  “Yes. But right now, we need to focus on us, not them.” I pressed the issue by walking back toward the grass. I trusted the others to follow.

  They did, and as they turned the corner, the shelter door opened and Griffin joined them. When he saw me, his face fell.

  I. Wait. You. His signs were large and accusing. He didn’t give me a chance to explain, though; just opened up our father’s journal and stabbed the page.

  Before I could tell him to look at the bridge, Alice pointed at his journal. “I’ve got one of those,” she told me. “It’s full of the same yellow pages. Lots of little writing.”

  “You should show it to Grif—”

  My brother closed the book with a snap, and thrust an open palm in the air: Sign.

  I hadn’t seen him so angry in years. He’d spied the pirates now, and his eyes flitted back and forth between them and the journal. It was like he was still wasn’t sure which was more important.

  “We need to run,” said Alice, taking charge. “The boats are ready to sail.”

  I relayed the words to Griffin as Rose shook her head vigorously. “Sail where?” She pointed at Dennis. “He can’t move, let alone run. Anyway, what’s the point?”

  “The point is our families are still alive. But only as long as the pirates don’t catch us.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Every question felt like an accusation, and they were speaking too fast for me to sign now. I usually liked that about signing—it slowed conversation down, allowed us to linger on details. Now, as I floundered around for the correct word, I cursed myself.

  Griffin stomped the ground and raised his palm again. Sign!

  Alice stepped into the road. “The pirates are moving faster.”

  I raised my hands and tried to explain what Alice and I had found out. “Last night, we got close to the pirates. We saw them, and heard them talking. They said the Guardians are being held prisoner on the ship.”

  Why? Griffin responded.

  “Their leader is after something . . . someone,” I explained. “He says one of us is the solution to the Plague.”

  Rose furrowed her brows. “What does that mean? How can anyone solve the Plague?”

  “We can’t. It doesn’t make any sense. But he’s got a whole lot of men believing him, and they’re heading this way. And when he captures us, the Guardians will die. He said so.”

  “They’re almost at the gap,” Alice shouted. “They can only cross one at a time, but after that they’ll move quickly.”

  Rose turned to me. “Do you know which of us they want?”

  I hadn’t considered how I’d explain this part to Griffin. There wasn’t time to think it through either, so I clasped my hands behind my back. “A boy. They said they’ve been looking for the solution for the past thirteen years, so . . . it can only be Griffin or me.”

  Griffin kicked at the ground. Sign!

  Rose looked sorry that she’d asked at all. But there was no getting away from it now—he had to know. I relayed the information with shaking hands.

  “Can we hide?” Rose asked. “All of us together.”

  “I don’t think so. We’d just be delaying things. They’ll find us. Eventually.”

  She crouched down and ran her fingers through her hair, tugged at the knots in it, but her eyes never left me. “Then you should both go. Alice too. I’ll stay here with Dennis. Try to throw them off your trail.”

  “No, you can’t stay.”

  Her eyes drifted to her brother. “I don’t have any choice.”

  “Then we’ll stay together.”

  “No, we won’t, Thomas. I can’t let you take that chance.”

  “They’re at the gap!” I could feel Alice’s desperation. She began to walk down the road like she was being drawn to the sound.

  Griffin raised his right hand. We. Fight, he signed. I noticed he only pointed to himself and me. He didn’t want the others to get hurt.

  Seeing his jaw muscles bulge, the fierce look in his eye, I knew he meant it. He must have known as well as me how hopeless it would be, but he was willing to risk everything. This was the Griffin the Guardians never bothered to know. This was my brother. And it was all I could do not to cry.

  When I didn’t respond, Griffin joined Alice. Was it because he knew that fighting was hopeless? Or because he wouldn’t force me to risk my life?

  I felt worn out, defeated, as though the pirates were already among us. There was no hiding from them, no hope of running. There was just us five, the survivors, staying together until the bitter end.

  Rose stepped toward me. “Go, Thomas. I’ll send them the wrong way. I promise.”

  “You, lie? I don’t think you’re very good at that.” I meant it to sound funny, but regretted it as her face creased up.

  “Please don’t make this harder for me. In my heart I want to be with you, but you have to go. Because if anything happened to you, I swear I’d—”

  I reached forward and rested my fingers on her wooden bangle. She froze, but didn’t pull away. She just held her breath as I turned it slowly around her wrist. The wood was smeared with blood and dirt. We stood inches apart and watched the colors blend together.

  “I hate that you’re seeing me like this,” she whispered.

  “Like how?”

  “A mess.”

  “You’re not a mess. You’re pretty.”

  “No, I’m not. I don’t know how much longer we can hold out.”

  “Shh.”

  I slid my little finger underneath the bangle and touched the smooth pale skin inside her wrist. A part of me was waiting for her to pull away, though I hoped so much that she wouldn’t. Rose closed her eyes and sighed. I immersed myself in the energy flooding through me. My finger felt hot. Alive.

  Rose opened her mouth, furrowed her brows, and released a sound that was half sigh, half moan. Her energy surged.

  Rapid footsteps from the road intruded on the silence. “You’re not going to believe this!”

  I pulled back immediately, but Alice was already there. It was obvious that she’d seen us.

  “You need to come,” she continued, all business.

  Rose and I joined her on the road. I raised the binoculars and saw the pirates were still on th
e bridge. But they weren’t moving. It looked like they’d stopped at the gap, and decided not to continue. Even stranger, they were talking—all of them at once, and most of them were facing Dare. They looked furious.

  Dare didn’t react at all. He was too busy training his telescope on me.

  “What’s he doing?” muttered Alice.

  Suddenly a red-faced pirate knocked the telescope from Dare’s eye. It fell to the ground. He yelled at Dare as the other pirates formed a group behind him. I didn’t need to hear them to feel the tension.

  Still Dare said nothing. He didn’t flinch. He just waited calmly as the man continued his tirade. Then, as the pirate paused for breath, Dare grabbed his tunic and lifted him off the ground. In a fluid motion he swung the man around and let go.

  The man didn’t fall onto the road, though. There wasn’t any road. He dropped like a stone eighty feet into the sound.

  The whole time, Dare stared in our direction. Even when he signaled for the pirates to retreat, he kept his eyes fixed on us. But his expression had changed now. He looked crazed, demonic, as he raised his hands above his head and clapped them together.

  Over and over again.

  CHAPTER 28

  I didn’t know what to say. It was too bizarre. Even Alice was lost for words.

  “Are they . . . retreating?” asked Rose.

  “Yes,” replied Alice.

  “Why?”

  No one answered. We should have felt relieved—pleased, even—but it made no sense. I was certain it had nothing to do with us.

  “What’s happening?” pressed Rose. “For days they won’t cross. When they finally do, they stop halfway.”

  “They didn’t cross before now because they thought Roanoke Island was Plague-ridden,” I said.

  Alice flashed me a glance, but Rose didn’t notice. “Why would they think that?”

  “Because the colony was on Hatteras. And because there’s a hole in the bridge, as though people were afraid rats would cross over from Roanoke.”

  “But they saw us here yesterday.”

  “The Plague needs time to take effect. They didn’t want to cross until they were sure it was safe.”

  “How do they know it’s safe now?”

  Alice’s eyes bored into me. The answers were right there, on her maps. Didn’t Rose deserve to know the world she lived in?

  Then I thought of her hands, covered in filthy bandages, and the shadows under her eyes. And Dennis, alone behind the shelter.

  “The pirates gave us two days,” I began, the half truth slipping out more easily than I would have imagined. “None of us seem affected, which gives them hope. Makes them think this solution is real.”

  Rose didn’t respond at first. I worried that she’d seen through my hesitation and Alice’s furtive glances. “You seem to have all the answers.”

  “We overheard the pirates—”

  “So you say. Did the pirates say why they planned to stop halfway across the bridge, by any chance?”

  I shook my head.

  Rose ran a finger along my sleeve. “Pity. I hate secrets.”

  * * *

  Rose said we needed food, and vegetable roots weren’t enough. She said she’d catch a fish or two. After all, Alice could start a fire whenever she liked now that the pirates knew where we were.

  I said I’d join her to collect kindling. I hoped she’d be pleased, but she didn’t seem to care.

  Alice wanted to come too, so that she could inspect the bridge, try to work out what might have happened with the pirates. First, I asked her to give Griffin the journal from her dune box. If anyone could piece together the information in those pages, it was Griffin. He offered to keep an eye on Dennis too. Still, Rose said nothing.

  Rose and I walked in silence. I wanted her to touch my tunic again, to make a connection between us. But she seemed distracted. It was as if she knew I’d lied to her.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen to Dennis,” she said finally. “His element is consuming him. It’s like Griffin’s visions—he doesn’t control his element anymore; his element controls him.” She paused. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I guess I just don’t want there to be any secrets between us.”

  Alice pulled alongside us. I was grateful. Rose’s remarks felt calculated, and I didn’t know how to respond. But the farther we walked, the more it felt like a chasm separated the three of us. With every step, silence forced us apart.

  When we reached the bridge, Alice headed for the gap, and Rose and I continued down to the water’s edge.

  “Did you see Lora die?” she asked.

  The question caught me off guard. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s a yes-or-no question.”

  “Yes. Who told you?”

  “No one. You and Alice and Griffin spent half the next day asleep, so I figured you’d been awake all night. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She stepped backward into the water, waiting for my reply. She didn’t even bother to raise the hem of her tunic. It floated around her like a cloud.

  I wanted to answer, but couldn’t. Words would just confirm my guilt. But I was losing her. I had to say something. “I just . . . didn’t think of it.”

  She wore a distant smile. “My father coddles me, Thomas. He thinks I don’t notice the things that go on in our colony. Thinks I don’t know there are lies.” She drew a deep breath. When she placed her palms flat against the surface of the water, they shook. Not from fear, or from nerves, but from anger. I could see it in her rigid pose and hear it in her voice. “Do you coddle me too?”

  “No.”

  She drew another breath, and let the air slide between her teeth in a hiss. “I hope that’s true.”

  I barely recognized this version of Rose. Maybe it was sleep-deprivation, but every word had an edge that made her seem more like Alice. Only, I didn’t want her to be like Alice. I wanted her to be Rose. I wanted her to be the person who saw the best in everyone.

  “I’m sorry that you have to do this,” I said, waving my hand across the water. “I know the echo hurts you.”

  “I don’t care about the pain. I’ll kill every fish in the sound if that’s what it takes to keep us alive.”

  Her words chilled me. I knew I ought to be collecting driftwood, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She looked different than I’d ever seen—stronger, as though she were summoning fish rather than coaxing them.

  Something in the water brushed by her, but Rose didn’t move. The fish had been spared. Oddly, it didn’t swim away, though. It just continued toward the shore.

  Straightaway, there was another fish, and another, circling around her and leaping out of the water as if they were trying to be caught.

  Still Rose didn’t move.

  Before I could ask if she was all right, the first fish leaped out of the water and landed beside me. It flapped about uselessly, gills opening and closing in a desperate attempt to stay alive. I stood frozen to the spot as it died slowly before me.

  There were more fish now. They came suddenly, darting toward Rose, slapping against her hands. The surface of the water turned white with their splashing. But Rose didn’t move, and they continued onward, sacrificing themselves on the shore.

  “Rose.” I called her name, but she didn’t answer. “Rose!”

  She raised her head and closed her eyes. She seemed locked in place, unable to move or stop. The surface of the water was no longer visible. It shone like silver fire.

  I ran into the sound, but tripped on the mass of slick bodies swarming around my legs. When I surfaced they pressed against me, furiously making their escape. I tried to forge a path through them, but I may as well have been fighting a wall. And Rose was sinking under them. She’d summoned them to her, and now they were claiming her.

  “Ros
e!” The force of a hundred fish drove me back to the shore. “Rose!”

  She didn’t even struggle as her shoulders dipped below the surface; her head too. She was completely submerged. And no matter how loudly I shouted her name, she didn’t respond.

  Fish flew onto the shore. I held my arm up to protect myself. Through the glittering bodies I stared at the space where she’d been standing. Rose had disappeared completely, just as though she had offered to die too.

  CHAPTER 29

  Rose!” I called her name, louder and louder. I tried to force my way through the wall of fish again. Failed.

  There was nothing to see but a mirror-like mass of bodies fighting on the surface. They twisted and rippled like water. I couldn’t even guess where Rose had gone under anymore.

  Several yards away, something plummeted from the sky. It hit the water hard, shock waves scattering the fish. The swell pushed them straight to me.

  Before I could work out what had happened, Alice rose from the water. She swam for a couple yards. When her feet touched the ground, she pushed toward the shore, dragging her hands beside her. Finally she stopped and ducked under. When she resurfaced, she held Rose’s arm in her hands.

  I forced my way back in and grabbed Rose’s sleeve. Together, Alice and I pulled her onto the shore.

  Rose collapsed on the ground, coughing up water. Reeds pierced her clothes, but it hardly mattered—they were ruined anyway. Once she caught her breath, she just lay there. With her eyes wide open, unblinking, she looked eerily similar to the fish dying all around her.

  “What just happened?” cried Alice. She was shaking. Limping too. That’s when it dawned on me what she’d just done: She’d jumped from the bridge towering over us.

  I stared up at the giant arch. She’d leaped into the water beyond where Rose had been standing, but it may still have been only two yards deep. She could’ve killed herself.

  “What happened, Rose?” Alice repeated, softer this time.

  Rose swallowed hard. “I was angry. So I summoned every fish. I just wanted to be quick, get it over with. But they all came. It was like they needed to die.”