by Jae Vogel
As Dion, the last to leave, exited the store, a lady walked up to him and stared in confusion at the crowd who left it. “What is going on here?” she demanded. “I couldn’t get the door open and the maintenance crew is supposed to be on their way to fix it for me.”
The woman appeared to be light in complexion and small in size. “Do you work here?” Dion asked her.
“I own this place,” she snapped at him. “We just opened yesterday.”
“Don’t worry, we didn’t take any fish. Nice selection. Who came up with the design?”
“I did!” she snapped at him.
“The shark in the tank was a good idea,” Dion said to her as he walked away.
“What shark?” she demanded to know. Dion simply continued to walk with his group. His uncle, or the elementals, had made some changes.
The next group they encountered was his friends who’d stood outside and waited. Lilly ran up to Dion and tossed her arms around him, relieved that he’d managed to get everyone out of the aquarium store safely. The rest of them appeared to be calmed that his plans worked out.
“Everything alright out here?” he asked Sean and the rest of the group.
“No real problems,” the captain told him. “We had some kind of security guard come by and look us over, but he left after a few minutes. I guess we weren’t the criminals he needed to find.”
“Probably went back to the usual suspects,” Dion said. He was about to tell the captain his ex-wife was inside the aquarium store with the others when she stepped out from the crowd again.
Captain Gabriel had an instant look of relief on his face and walked up to Salacia. She stopped and looked at him with equal surprise. It was a special moment for both of them and they hugged.
“What are you doing here?” they said at the same time.
“I heard about your new store in this mall,” Captain Gabriel said to Salacia. “I had a bad feeling about it so I put out the word to some people I know to look into it. They did and told me it was built over the entrance to the abyss. I knew I had to get back here and make sure you were safe when I didn’t get a quick answer to the last letter I wrote.”
“As you can see, I’m safe and sound. No reason to worry about me. Those nymphs who captured me and the rest are locked away some place where they won’t get out very soon if at all.” She turned in Dion’s direction. “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”
“I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for you.”
“It was nice of you. Especially after being trapped in that place. Come on, we need to get back to my office so I can give Dion his full water elemental powers.”
The group continued on their way toward the pool store. This time there were no further interruptions. Most people didn’t think it was odd an entire squadron of chess players and a swim team walked together to as they wound their way through the mall.
Outside the pool store, the crowd halted and Salacia turned to face the group with Dion at her side. “You have to stay out here,” she informed them. “What I need to do with Dion has to be carried out alone between him and myself. I’m going into the office and when we return, Dion will be a Water Element Master.
Dion and Salacia Delphi went through the door to the pool store and the rest waited outside.
A few minutes later the door to the pool store opened and one of the regular sales clerks stuck out his head. “Are you all here to see Ms. Delphi?” he asked them. “I think she’s going to be busy for a while. She just went into the office with someone. I couldn’t tell who it was, but she closed the door which usually means it’s intense and will take a while.”
“We’re waiting for her,” Lilly let him know, “but she told us to stay here. There is something she needs to do with a friend of ours.”
“Okay,” he looked and saw the Naiad sisters standing around in their tracksuits. “Say, if any of you want to come back and use the demo pools, it’s fine. I’ve had men come by all day and ask about you.”
“Thank you,” Cynae spoke for them, “but we’ll stay here for the time being.”
“So what happens inside there when he gets his full powers?” Emily asked Lilly. “You’ve been with Dion every day this week. Does he have to pass a test, get fingerprinted, swear an oath, what?”
“I have no idea. He’s never allowed me to go in there with him. I guess it’s too special for anyone else to see.” It was clear from the way she spoke that Lilly found it to be an irritation she wasn’t allowed inside.
“I still can’t imagine what we’re going to do with them all,” Emily mentioned to Lilly a little later as they watched the Naiads interact with the chess club. “Didn’t they say they need a large isolated body of water to thrive? Where are we going to find something around here that meets that requirement?”
“Dion seems to think there’s a way to make it work,” Lilly replied. “I’m not going to worry about it just yet. The boys in the chess club seem happy enough, glamor or not. And the elementals seem to like to be around them. They even know how to play chess. I heard one of them explain the rules of a game called ‘go’ to her guy. It should work out.”
“I hope so.”
An hour later, as the shadows in the parking lot grew long, Salacia Delphi and Dion emerged from the pool store. Dion had a big smile on his face, as did she.
“Congratulate the new Water Element Master!” she announced to the crowd. There was a loud applause from the group, which caused the shoppers to turn in their direction.
“So, you can now make the water elementals do what you want?” Dennis asked Dion as he walked back to his friends.
“I can do a lot, but nothing that breaks my own personal code,” he explained. “I have no intention of making the Naiad sisters leave any of you.”
There was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd as the chess club heard the news. There was some concern about what might happen when Dion became full master of the third element.
“Only leaves one element mastery you need to obtain,” Captain Gabriel said. “You should be able to get it quick.”
“I plan on being here tomorrow for that one. It’s important that I obtain it because it will be the last elemental power I need before I acquire the fifth elemental ability.”
“Did you see what is happening in the parking lot?” Sean said. Emily stood next to him and turned to see what he pointed at through the window.
Karanzen was back.
Chapter 14
Karanzen’s officers were outside and looking in the far end of the parking lot at Dion’s van. There was a tow truck already out there hooking up to it. Five of his officers were around the van attaching the jack to it while they worked to get something off it. It was a bright and sunny day outside and the group inside the mall had a clear view of what was happening.
“Looks like someone has taken an interest in your van, Dion,” Dennis said. “Why would they just appear out of nowhere to mess with it? Did you not pay a ticket or something?”
“It’s my old friend, Officer Karanzen. He must realize I have the third elemental power and wants to keep me from here tomorrow. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Outside, Officer Karanzen had one eye on the entrance to the mall and the other on his men who were taking care of the van. The tow truck belonged to the mall. It came in handy when a car wouldn’t start or one needed to be moved.
Every now and then, someone would leave his or her car in the lot and it would sit there for a week. The mall was supposed to trace down the ownership, but it was far more trouble than the security department wanted to waste. It was much easier for the vehicle to simply disappear from the lot. There were plenty of places in Scipio where you could part out a car or truck for a decent amount of money and they knew where to find every one. Most of the time the owners of the cars didn’t show up. Sometimes they were stolen and no one knew whom they belonged to if the license plates were switched. It was easier to get them off the lot and to a scra
p yard.
So the mall owner’s big plan had failed again? Karanzen laughed to himself. He thought he knew how to keep that kid from the Elemental Grandmasters, but every plan he’d came up with didn’t work. Dion saw through every one of them somehow. The swim team plan might’ve worked if Dion was an average American male, but he wasn’t. The security chief had to give him some credit: bringing those idiots from his high school into the mall was a stroke of pure genius. In one sweep, he’d eliminated the only rival he had in the water elementals and increased his own group in size and capacity. Too bad he hadn’t had that kid in Korea, he might’ve returned with the men under his command, but it was best not to think about that place.
Karanzen had watched the second plan bungle when the mall owner sent out another wave of water elementals after the first plan failed. At least there was a fallback plan, too bad it didn’t work. He’s sat and watched on the security cameras as the group of three nymphs rounded up the couples who were wandering around the mall. They took them to that aquarium supply place which only opened up yesterday. He was surprised to see them apprehend the pool storeowner. He almost bet against Dion succeeding when he entered the aquarium store. However, he’d emerged victorious as ever when everyone strolled out of it less than an hour later. The place had been locked against intruders; the real owner couldn’t get inside it and was on her way down to see him when the doors opened.
Minutes later his phone had rang and he received the go ahead to do it his way. About time. Just that he couldn’t keep them out the last two days was no reason to let them in today. It was the mall owner’s idea to stage the fake barricade at the mall entrance this morning and make them think they’d entered the mall by their own subterfuge. He was supposed to hang back and let Mr. Big’s fiendish plan flawlessly execute. Although the flashback to Korea hadn’t been part of the plan, but it gave him the cover he needed. His men still thought an ‘episode’ was why he’d allowed the kids into the mall today.
“You ready to tow this thing off, Boss?” It was Izzy behind the wheel of the tow truck. He was anxious to wrap things up for the day and head home.
“Just hang tight,” Karanzen told him. “I need an excuse to call the cops. Little punk comes out here and gives me some lip; I’ll have all I need to have him arrested.”
“I still say you should just call them anyway and worry about a reason later,” one of the other security officers said to him. “I’m sure we could find something to plant in this van. Don’t you have all kinds of fun things in that safe in the office?’
“Shut up!” Karanzen snapped at him. The safe was common knowledge among the guards, but he didn’t like them talking about it. “We’re going to do this my way and avoid any problems down the road. The cops will make the arrest and he’ll be banned from the mall forever.”
“This is another one I need to handle on my own,” Dion told his crew. “Everyone stay put and I’ll go out there and find out what they are up to. I don’t need any of you getting into trouble on my account. Just watch from the window in case I need some kind of a witness later.”
“You should let us go with you,” Cynae said.
“Just stay here,” he told them. “I can handle this one myself. I have three of the four full elemental powers. I don’t expect there is anything they can do to me now I can’t stop.”
“I think he’s too sure of himself,” Captain Gabriel said to Salacia as he watched Dion walk down the corridor to the parking lot. “Too many things out there that can go wrong. I think he’s really walking into a trap this time.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “But we’ll have to let him find a way out of it himself. If he’s truly going to be the one to gain the fifth elemental mastery, he’ll need to be able to do it by himself.”
The Naiad sisters were pushing up to the window to get a good look at the action in the parking lot. Their chess club boyfriends were doing the same, but neither of them had any clue as to what the security guards planned outside in the parking lot. All they could see was the uniformed men around Dion’s van in the distance.
Lilly was worried and at the window with the rest of them. There was still a quick exit to the parking lot on their side of the building, but it wasn’t supposed to be used unless for emergencies. How Dion had opened it to allow the air elemental sylph out without setting off the alarm still puzzled her. Usually the alarm would howl the moment anyone pushed down on the handle.
Sean and Emily were behind the rest of them. They wanted to see how this all ended too. Sean had watched Dion perform some biblical miracles and had no doubt he could handle it all himself. Still, no one knew what might happen out there.
“You’ve done very well for yourself,” the captain said to his ex-wife as they watched Dion leave to meet the uniformed committee at his van. “People tell me you own all kinds of businesses in this town. Does your skill come from being an Elemental Grandmaster?”
“No, it comes from knowing how to get the best deal. And how to take care of the customer.”
“So, did you have the elementals scheduled to sell pools for your today or was that a coincidence?” She stood very close to him.
“A little of both. I’d planned to have some models come out and told the sales staff about my idea. When the sisters appeared they assumed it was who I was talking about.”
“Worked out pretty good for you.”
“All you have to do is set up the right conditions, the rest follows.”
“Let’s hope Dion is walking into the right condition.”
Karanzen watched the doors to the mall. He had to be out here soon. He knew the kid was inside with his little gang observing everything. How could he miss it? The van was in plain view of the mall. He kept a watch on the doors right until the moment they opened and Dion appeared.
It wasn’t very dramatic. One moment shoppers were going in and out of the mall, the next Dion was slowly walking down the concrete toward him. He didn’t have anger in his face, or so it seemed from the distance, just puzzlement. Karanzen was certain it would change when they told him the van contained ‘controlled substances’. If he were like any other Midwestern kid, even a transplant such as Dion would lose control, which would give them all the authority they needed to impound him as well. His aunt and uncle would be forced to pick him up after they paid the bail bondsmen, since he was now a legal adult. And he would never have to worry about that punk being in his mall again. The mall owner would be forced to admit Karanzen was right all along and would no longer bother him about security.
Dion stopped two car lengths away from the security chief and his men. He’d left the map inside with Lilly just to be safe. There was one more section of the mall he needed to visit tomorrow and then the clock tower in the center. This was simply an attempt to keep him out tomorrow and ban him from the mall. Of course, Karanzen didn’t need a reason to keep him out, but it looked bad if he didn’t attempt to justify what he did.
“Why do you have a tow truck around my van?” Dion asked him. “I don’t recall I did anything wrong inside the mall today.” He stood his ground and made sure Karanzen was a safe distance away.
“Shoplifting is a crime, Dion,” Karanzen called out to him. “We had a report someone was using a van to haul merchandise they hadn’t paid for and we decided to investigate. We found all kinds of goods in the back of it you hadn’t paid for. Now we’re going to haul the van off and impound it. I’m afraid you won’t be allowed to come back here again.”
“Is that the best you can do, Officer Karanzen?” Dion called back to him. “Plant fake evidence in my van? I would expect you’d be much more creative. Perhaps my uncle has misjudged your abilities.”
“Your uncle seems to have some trouble reeling you in. It’s up to me to show him how to do it right. Now go away before we have to call the police.”
“I wouldn’t touch that van,” Dion called across the lot to him. “I advise you to just leave it alone and go back inside the mall.”
“What are you going to do? Send some of your girlfriends on the swim team out here to interfere. Just get out of here and get a ride home, Dion. You are banned from the mall.”
Dion looked at the sky. It would take too long to get the elementals to bring the clouds over the parking lot. Even if he could find ones who wouldn’t have to be bound to help him. He needed another way to bring this to an end without causing too much damage. As far as he could see, it left one thing he could do.
The creek, which ran near the mall, had never been very large. It fed into the local river, which wound its way down to the larger Ohio River, to the Mississippi River and from there into the sea. It was underground in a metal culvert most of the time and flowed under the highway. However, it still ran open next to the parking lot at the mall. The local water control board insisted it be maintained to control run-off and not flood the streets when the mall was constructed. It was hidden by a strategically planted grove of trees, which boarded the parking lot. It still provided plenty of water when it rained. After the recent spring showers, the creek water reached up to the banks.
It provided a nice home for the water elementals, which was all Dion needed.
Dion closed his eyes and felt them swimming in the water, invisible to most people, but now so easy for him to see and control with his new powers. Still, he needed to persuade them to come and help. They didn’t care much for the men who’d dumped sand and gravel in their creek. Dion only needed to make a few promises to get their help.
The sound came from the edge of the parking lot and caused Karanzen and his men to turn their heads in its direction. They couldn’t see what caused it because it came from the other side of the tree line. It was a bubbling noise, similar to a sink overflowing. The sound increased in pitch and the tow truck driver shut the engine down to hear it better. Now they could see what the cause was.
Water overflowed from the creek banks. They could see it rising as it flowed across from the tree line and in their direction across the field. The water bubbled up and poured at them as it pushed loose dirt and soil toward in front of it. The security guards stopped what they were doing with the van and walked to Karanzen with a look of fear in their eyes.
