Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows

by Michelle Madow

  She placed her pen down and studied me. “You played varsity as a freshman?”

  “Yes.” My cheeks heated—hopefully she didn’t think I was making it up. I’d always excelled in tennis, but I didn’t like to brag about it. If she watched me play she would see for herself.

  “You can try out for the team today,” she decided, picking up the clipboard and hugging it to her side. “I can’t promise you a spot, since our team is very competitive, but I’ll see how you do and we’ll go from there.”

  Despite trying to remain calm, a grin spread across my face. “Thank you!” I exclaimed, resisting the urge to give her a big hug. She didn’t seem like the touchy-feely type.

  She wrote something on her clipboard. “Be on the court at 4:00 PM sharp,” she instructed.

  “Will do.”

  She nodded, and feeling like she was done with the conversation, I walked to the balcony overlooking the courts. On the closest one, a group of younger kids aimed balls towards cones on the opposite end. I smiled while watching them, since that had been my favorite drill when I was that age. I’d picked it up immediately—accuracy had always been my strength. All you had to do was look where you wanted the ball to go, aim, and hit. Easy.

  “So, you decided to show up after all,” Danielle said from behind me.

  “Yeah.” I turned and held her gaze, balancing my racket in front of me. With her hair slicked back into a ponytail, her eyes looked more catlike than normal. “I talked with the coach, and she’s letting me try out.”

  Danielle’s expression hardened. “How nice of her,” she said, her tone sugary sweet. “Good luck.” She turned on her heel and strutted towards a group of girls who had just arrived, swishing her skirt for extra emphasis.

  A few minutes later, everyone gathered on the court. Coach Peterson informed the team that I would be trying out, and that she would be observing me as if it were a normal practice. Before anyone could comment, she told us to run five laps to warm up.

  Following everyone else’s lead, I dropped my racket and started to run. It felt great to run again—hearing the slaps of my sneakers hitting the pavement, feeling the air whiz through my hair as it flew behind my head, and the adrenaline rush of my heart pumping faster as I gained speed. My previously injured knee didn’t so much as twinge. It felt amazing—like I was flying.

  I was first to finish, lapping a few of the other girls on the way. Danielle finished second. She picked her racket back up and did some stretches, refusing to look at me.

  After everyone completed their laps, Coach Peterson divided us into groups of four to warm up. I breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t put me in the same group as Danielle.

  The girls in my group were decent players, but discovering their weaknesses was easy. It wouldn’t be difficult to strategize how to beat them in a game. Since we were just warming up, I didn’t hit as hard as I would have normally, but they didn’t come close to challenging me. My guess was that they had low spots on JV.

  After twenty minutes, Coach Peterson blew her whistle. “Time’s up!” she shouted, her voice carrying through all six courts. “Take a water break, and then we’ll play some games.”

  I dropped my racket in the hall and ran to the water fountain, but Coach Peterson called my name before I could get in line. I jogged over to her, my heart pounding with each step. I had to relax. I’d just shown some solid hitting. She had no reason not to want me on the team.

  “Very impressive warm-up,” she said with a hint of a smile. “I’d like to see how you do with the girls who play varsity singles. From there, I’ll figure out where to place you on the team.”

  “Great.” I grinned at how she said where she would place me on the team, not if. I had a spot. I would definitely be able to play. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’ll be a strong addition.” She looked down at her watch, her face hardening again. “Go get some water, and I’ll let the other girls know about the changes.”

  I nodded and hurried back over to the fountain. One of the girls I’d warmed up with gave me a high five, and most of the other girls introduced themselves, welcoming me to the team.

  “Congratulations,” Danielle said to me as she approached, as icy as ever. “Coach told me that you’re going to be playing with me and some of the other girls on varsity. This should be … interesting, to say the least.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled, too happy to deal with her negativity. Luckily, it was my turn at the water fountain, so I lowered my head to take a sip, pushing the button next to the faucet.

  The water spurted out at full speed, splashing everywhere and getting all over my face and hair. I shrieked and backed away, wiping the water off my cheeks and blinking it out of my eyes.

  Danielle snickered, and I glared at her, squeezing the water from my hair onto the floor. She looked so smug, as if she had done it.

  But that was impossible. Because like Darius had said on my first day, our powers were mental, not physical. Danielle couldn’t be responsible for what had just happened. It must have been a glitch in the piping system.

  The water came out at a normal speed when I tried again, and after a few sips I grabbed my racket and headed back to where everyone was gathered around the coach. Danielle laughed again, but I held my head higher, not looking back at her. Getting a spot on the team was a good moment. I wouldn’t let her ruin it.

  “You’re going to be on court one,” Coach told me. “Grab your racket and get started. I’ll decide where to place you after observing you play.”

  The other three girls were already there when I arrived. Danielle had teamed up with a senior from homeroom named Kara. They smirked at each other when they saw me, as if confident they were going to beat me. I took a deep breath and ran my fingers over the strings of my racket. I had to stay focused on my game. Danielle might have an advantage with her powers, but I had five years of playing on her. I should be able to handle this.

  The tall, blonde girl on the other side of the court, who I figured would be my partner, smiled and waved me over. “I’m Jessica,” she introduced herself.

  “Hi.” I smiled back at her. “I’m Nicole.”

  “I know,” she said. “We have homeroom together.”

  Right after she said it, I recognized her—she was the quiet girl in back who’d answered one of Darius’s questions on my first day.

  I suspected it wasn’t a coincidence that the three highest ranked girls on the team were all in my homeroom.

  “You can serve first,” Danielle said to me, tossing a few balls in my direction.

  “Sure.” I caught them and walked to the baseline. What did Danielle have up her sleeve by letting me start? The serving team always had the advantage.

  I highly doubted that she’d offered out of the kindness of her heart, but all I could do was relax and play my best. So I tossed the ball in the air, throwing my whole body into the serve as I aimed and swung.

  The ball popped against the rim of my racket and fell into the net.

  “Fault.” Danielle squared her shoulders and smirked. “Good try, though.”

  I didn’t reply to her fake compliment, instead bouncing the next ball on the ground in preparation to serve again. That had just been a warm-up. This time I would hit a serve so strong that Danielle wouldn’t have time to blink as it shot past her.

  I tossed the ball up again, but my racket connected with it too late. It arced through the air and landed behind the base line.

  “Double fault.” Danielle flicked her hair over her shoulder and smiled triumphantly. “Love-15.”

  I glared at her for calling the score. That was supposed to be the responsibility of the server. Meaning: me.

  I twirled my racket in an attempt to quench my nerves. There had to be something I could do to relax. Then I remembered the colors that Darius had written on the board. Kate had made me memorize each one during our first study session. Maybe one of them could help?

  I decided on blue, the mos
t calming of the colors. If I could harness blue energy, maybe I could loosen up and play at my potential.

  It might not work. But it couldn’t hurt to try.

  I shifted from one foot to the other and closed my eyes, hoping it looked like I was just trying to center myself. But really, I pictured blue in my mind. I pulled it toward me until the color surrounded me, and I imagined it entering through my palms, filling my body and soothing my nerves.

  With my hand gripped around my racket, I could tell that something about it felt fuzzy and off—perhaps because I hadn’t used it in so long. So I sent some of the blue energy into my racket as well.

  Then I tossed the ball up again and hit it.

  It arced through the air and landed exactly where I’d aimed. The shot was decent, but the lack of force behind it allowed Kara to smash it to the middle of the court where neither Jessica nor I could reach it.

  It was far from perfect. But at least it was better.

  The game continued in the same way, with me either missing my target or hitting an accurate but slow serve that was easy for Danielle or Kara to return with force. Coach Peterson watched from the sidelines, frowning. I couldn’t blame her. I was disappointed with my playing, too.

  Since imagining blue energy had helped slightly, I reminded myself about what all of the colors represented. Red didn’t only increase attraction and desire—it increased confidence as well. So I called the red energy into my body, feeling refreshed a second later. Then I thought about yellow and how it increases focus. A surge of yellow entered my palms, sharpening my attentiveness on the game. Lastly, I thought about blue again, trying to calm down and not let the frustration at my poor playing mess me up even more.

  The three colors flowed through my body, and I tightened my grip on my racket, sending the colors through it as well. Energy hummed through me, crackling with power. I bounced the ball a few times on the court, and my senses felt sharper. Faster.

  I was ready.

  Suddenly I was playing better than ever. I was in control of every shot—each one full of strength and precision. It didn’t take long for Jessica and me to take the lead.

  Eventually, Coach blew her whistle to signify the end of practice. She was waiting for me at the exit of the courts, and I walked over to her, my heart pounding with anticipation.

  “I’m going to chalk that first game up to nerves,” she said before I had a chance to speak. “I haven’t decided on your starting position yet, but I’ll watch you on Thursday and see how it goes. If you play the same way you did for the majority of the day, it’s safe to say that you can expect a top spot.”

  “Thank you,” I said, able to breathe for the first time since walking over. “I can’t wait to be a part of the team.”

  “Don’t thank me.” She finally smiled. “You earned it.”

  For the most part, I agreed with her. But I’d really messed up during that first game. And I couldn’t stop thinking about what Kate had told me about Danielle—that she used her abilities to negatively affect others. Specifically, on girls who talked to Blake.

  Had Danielle used her powers to mess me up?

  And if she had, was there anything I could do to protect myself from her?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “You should watch where you put your racket during tennis practice,” Blake said to me the next day in ceramics. We were working on our coil pots from yesterday, and we had a table to ourselves. I wondered if Blake was putting out some sort of energy that encouraged everyone to sit as far away from him as possible.

  Well—everyone but me, of course.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Just that some people—specifically certain ones in our homeroom—might take advantage of the fact that you left your racket alone on the court.”

  I jerked back, my eyes widening at what he’d implied. “You mean that Danielle messed with my racket?”

  “I’m not saying any names,” he said. “I’m just telling you to be more careful.”

  I wanted to know more, but it was a touchy subject, given that she was his girlfriend. “Thanks,” I said instead. “Next time, I won’t let my racket out of my sight.”

  “You do that,” he said. “But … don’t you want to learn how to get back at her?”

  I held his gaze, wondering if he meant it. He should be on Danielle’s side—not mine. Was this some sort of trick? I didn’t think so, but even if it wasn’t, the last thing I needed was to start a fight with Danielle. I might be getting the hang of harnessing energy, but Danielle was more powerful than me. I needed to be careful.

  “I don’t want to ‘get back’ at her,” I said carefully. “But if there’s a way to defend myself against whatever she’s doing, I would like to learn how to do that.”

  He leaned forward so his face was only inches away from mine, and goosebumps traveled over my arms. “There is,” he said, lowering his voice. “All you have to do is use white energy. It’s the strongest color out there, but it’s the hardest to harness. If you can do it, and if you direct it properly, it can take spells off of objects. The tricky part is knowing what objects have been tampered with. And it’s difficult to remove the energy if someone more powerful than you put it there. But you’ve got natural talent. Even Darius is impressed.”

  I ripped off a piece of clay from the chunk on the table and rolled another coil. “White energy,” I repeated. “What about concentrating on a few colors at once? I did that with three of them and it helped.”

  “Since combining all of the colors makes white energy, I guess three might do something,” he said. “And if it worked, that means you’ve got as much power as Danielle—maybe even more.”

  “So you admit it was Danielle!” I smiled in triumph.

  His jaw tensed, and he looked down at the table, refusing to meet my eyes.

  “I won’t tell anyone,” I said. “I promise.”

  He studied me, like he was trying to figure out if I was trustworthy or not. “Good,” he finally said. “Because if Danielle found out that I was trying to help you, she might take it out on you. And while I doubt she would do anything too terrible—after all, you’re one of us— I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  My cheeks heated, and I feared they were turning bright pink. Why would Blake go behind his girlfriend’s back to help me? I wanted to think that he was just as attracted to me as I was to him, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Because he and Danielle were still together. So Blake and I couldn’t be anything more than friends.

  I looked down at the table and focused on rolling another coil. My emotions were probably splattered so much on my face that they would betray me completely.

  “So, have you thought any more about the night of the comet?” I asked to fill the silence.

  “Constantly,” he said, his hands moving faster as he worked. “I don’t know why—or how—but my abilities have changed since that night.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I can’t show you here.” He glanced around the room, as if afraid of someone listening. “At least not without freaking everyone out and getting in trouble with the Elders.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But can you at least tell me?”

  “No,” he said. “This is something that needs to be seen. Come with me after class and I’ll show you.”

  His eyes darkened, and my breath caught with the realization that whatever he was planning on showing me was serious—and that for whatever reason, he was choosing to come to me with it. He trusted me.

  And even though I knew I shouldn’t, I trusted him, too.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The rest of ceramics class dragged on forever.

  “Are you ready for what I’m about to show you?” Blake asked after the bell finally rang.

  “After all of this build up, it better be good,” I joked, although I was only halfway kidding.

  We gathered our stuff and headed out of the classroom. “Come on,” he said, walk
ing the opposite way down the hall—toward the back of the building. It led to a dead end, but I followed anyway, trusting that he knew where he was going. He stopped at the door to the back stairwell, opening it and tilting his head for me to go first.

  My arm brushed his as I walked through, a rush of heat flowing from his skin and into mine. My breath caught in my chest, and I pulled away, moving aside to give him space to enter. The stairwell was dim and unfinished, and he inched the door shut, closing out the rest of the world.

  The chattering of the last kids walking down the hall quieted, and it was just the two of us. Alone. My heart was pounding so hard that he could probably hear it, and even though I’d wanted to be alone with Blake since the moment I first saw him, I needed to control whatever I was feeling for him. Nothing could happen between us. At least not right now, while he had a girlfriend.

  “So … what did you want to show me?” I asked, pulling my sleeves over my hands and wrapping my arms around myself.

  “This.” He removed something from his pocket and held it in front of him. It was a clay pendant of a miniature sun, about the size of his palm. The dark gray color of the clay made it obvious that it hadn’t gone in the kiln yet.

  “It’s beautiful.” I let my fingers hover over it, afraid to touch it. “You made it?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “I did.”

  “But why take it now, before firing it in the kiln?” I asked. “If you don’t fire it, it’ll eventually crumble.”

  “I’m going to show you something,” he said softly, his gaze so focused on mine that I had to lean against the wall to steady myself. “Promise me you won’t freak out.”

  “I promise.” I somehow kept my voice from shaking. “Given everything that I’ve learned recently, it would take a lot to freak me out now.”

  “Fair point.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black lighter. “You ready?”

  “Yes.” I swallowed and held his gaze. “I’m ready.”

  He flicked on the lighter, and it sparked to life, casting a glow across his face that made him look like he was from another world. Then he lowered the flame to the pendant—which was still sitting in his hand.