“Oh,” Victor chuckled. “I am old. My time has come. I am sure of that. That is part of why I brought you here. I wanted to be someplace beautiful when I am taken, and I wanted to be accompanied there by friends. Thank you for being that for me.”
Tears welled up in Adele’s eyes. Armand looked away, for fear he would cry too. Adele rushed over to hug Victor. She held on for a long time, not wanting to let go. Eventually, she had to pull away.
“Adele, there is actually one more thing I have for you,” Victor said warmly. He dug through his backpack and retrieved a small, silver pin with a drop of water etched into it. “This was my wife, Dana’s. She passed away a few years ago. I always kept this to remember her. Her ability was water too. You remind me of her. I want you to keep this.”
At once, the tears came rolling down Adele’s face. She took the pin and placed it carefully on her shirt. She hugged him again. Armand followed suit.
“Thank you so much, Victor. Thank you for everything.” Adele said, turning to leave.
“Thank you,” Armand said, giving Victor one final smile. “We will never forget you.”
Chapter 11
A year had passed since Adele and Armand last saw Victor. The two of them had been working hard in private to hone their own skills, and to recruit others. They knew that it would take many years before they could each fully master all four elements, so for their first year, they each chose to work on two. Adele had water and wind. Armand had fire and earth.
They were both quite talented with their original gifts, by then. Shortly after they had returned back from their trip with Victor, they attended a funeral for Phlippe. There weren’t very many people in attendance, but there was a 17-year-old boy who caught their attention. He was Philippe’s nephew. Something about the boy seemed different.
“Hi there, what’s your name?” Adele asked the boy, who was standing alone after the funeral.
“Nick,” the boy replied without breaking his gaze from the coffin being lowered into the ground.
“Hi Nick. I’m Adele. So how did you know Philippe?”
“He was my uncle.”
“I see. And where are your parents?”
“They did not approve of Uncle Philippe. They said his death was his own fault. They did not wish to attend. I found my own way here.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You know, Philippe was a friend of ours.” She motioned toward Armand. “We don’t blame him. There are just bad people in the world. But lots of good ones too. Philippe was good.”
Nick closed his eyes. His expression was a mixture of anger and sadness. He breathed deeply and as he did, Adele noticed the wind picking up. The deeper Nick breathed, the more things got picked up and carried off by the wind. A woman in a dress shrieked and grabbed at her hem.
“You’re doing that,” Adele whispered. Nick opened his eyes and smiled mischievously.
“Watch,” Adele smirked, pulling him by the hand beneath a tree. Suddenly it was pouring rain. The lady in the dress shrieked again and ran to her car. The people loitering around the gravesite all dispersed, leaving only Nick, Adele and Armand under the tree giggling. Nick’s eyes widened when he looked at Adele.
“We can teach you how to do so much more,” Armand said.
From that day forward, the two had taken Nick under their wing. They had the instructions, so they did have a lot to teach Nick, but he also had a lot to teach them. A few months later, they began recruiting at a much quicker rate. Adele and Armand recruited adults. Nick was able to recruit younger people, which gave them access to many Keepers they would not have found otherwise. This earned Nick a special rank among the Keepers. He was second in command to Armand and Adele.
They practiced in private and encouraged the other Keepers to keep their practice quiet, but word got out, as it does, and people whispered about the weirdos who can do magic. They were called witches, aliens, and a whole slew of less kind names. But, this wasn’t so bad. Most of the insults were directed at their practice, not them in particular. To their knowledge, no one knew who the specific Keepers were; they had just witnessed their powers in action.
Victor’s book told of a time when Keepers were everywhere. Their practice wasn’t kept secret at all. It discussed the pros and cons of this type of society, and it urged the readers to choose for themselves, if they thought that was a society worth returning to again.
Adele and Armand ultimately decided that it was, but that they needed to do so wisely. They would come out as something of an army. Their goal was to protect and care for their fellow man. Of course, as is the nature with most armies, they would have to do this through something of a battle. They would take on Biolance.
One year after beginning training, that army was ready to make its debut. They had enough Keepers and most of them were incredibly skilled. Armand taught the Keepers that they were all invaluable.
“You may only be able to bring forth one drop, but one drop, strategically placed, is still a part of an ocean,” he said each day before leading his teachings.
They didn’t set a date for their debut. This was not to be unveiled like a new car. They would strike when the moment was right and they would all know when that was. For months, Biolance had been gaining power. They did exactly what Victor predicted. They attempted to use their company as a new form of government.
Society under Biolance was rapidly declining. They eliminated thousands of jobs. They drastically cut public transportation, so that, by the end of the year, there was almost no way to get around, except by car or foot. One day, Biolance set out to destroy farmland all over the country. It was their idea that they could make it difficult for anyone to grow crops. They would grow their own crops, and create them in labs, forcing people to purchase their food through Biolance, at a much higher cost.
The first bomb went off on a small farm just outside the city. It was a farm that had been in its family for many generations. One of the Keepers lived in that area and immediately rushed into town to tell the others.
Armand and Adele both felt a strange sense of disturbance that day. They had been sitting at the breakfast table, enjoying pastries and fruit, when they were both visibly shaken. They looked at one another and knew that it was time.
By the time the Keeper from outside the city arrived at their door, they had already dressed and prepared for battle, and called the other Keepers to do the same. One of the Keepers had been undercover as a scientist at Biolance, in order to gain access to as much information as possible.
She headed over to Adele and Armand’s house as soon as she got the call. She gave Armand some information and he was able to hack into a Biolance server and find out which farmland they were planning to destroy next. This one was to be taken down using fire.
The Keepers rushed over to the next target. They arrived just as the farm was being set aflame. Seeing the crops light one another, sent anger rushing through Adele’s body. The farmer came outside and began to cry as the fire spread. Adele used all of the anger in her being to summon rain from the sky. A steady flow came down, but it was not enough to quench all of the flames.
Armand used his energy to keep the fire from spreading any further, but it was too large for him to put out entirely. Other Keepers joined in one by one. The rain became heavier and heavier until it looked like buckets of water were being poured from the sky. Some of the Keepers who had mastered wind, focused their energies on specific crops and were able to blow out the fire. Keepers of earth summoned dirt from a pigpen and tossed it on top of the crops, suffocating the flames.
After a few minutes, the fire was out completely. The Keepers stood, coughing and shivering amongst a steamy, smoky mess of mud and ash. They stood, staring at one another, unsure of what to do next. Just then, a helicopter flew in and landed right in front of them. Out walked Zack Temba, the man from the Biolance commercial.
He was handsome and charming, but his presence was still underwhelming. He appeared larger than life in th
e commercials, but in person, he was relatively small, and clearly no more than 18 years old.
“So what’s going on here?” He said, laughing and motioning to the huge mess. “I don’t suppose you freaks were trying to save this place? Because from the looks of it, you should’ve just let it burn. There’d be less mess.”
“Hey at least some of it will grow back now,” a Keeper shouted.
“Yeah, maybe,” Temba said, smacking a piece of gum and shielding his eyes from the sunlight. “So look, are we going to have a problem? Because we’ve got a lot more crops to kill and the clock is ticking.”
“Yeah, we are going to have a problem,” Nick came from the back of the crowd with a look of fury in his eyes.
“Oh my god,” Temba began a slow clap. “Is that Nick Blade? Oh, this is rich. Okay humor me, Nick. Why would I decide to bow to you now? I told you a year ago I’d be kicking your ass and here I am.”
Nick closed his eyes and summoned a huge gust of wind. It picked Temba up off his feet. He tried to steady himself, but slipped in the mud. He stood up, his white suit dirtied.
“Fine,” Temba sighed, peeling off his suit jacket. “You want a war, you got a war.”
Temba climbed back into the helicopter and headed back to Biolance headquarters. The Keepers cheered after the helicopter flew away. Armand, Adele and Nick did not cheer. They stood patiently waiting for the others to quiet down.
“We must not lose sight of why we do this,” Adele said. “You cheer because you have won the battle, but you fail to notice that Temba says we have a war. Do not cheer for victory. Cheer for what is right.”
“So do you think he’s going to head to the next farmland? Should we be there, prepared to take them down?” a Keeper asked.
“No,” Nick spoke up. “He won’t go there today. His suit is dirty and he knows we will win. Temba is going to be on the lookout to surprise us. I don’t know where he will strike next, but he doesn’t just want to fight with us. He wants to propel his business, so he will destroy whatever he can destroy in the name of progress, in good time.”
“Head home and clean up. Get some rest. We will contact you when we have our next plan. And hopefully, like most of you did today, you will be able to sense that need coming,” Armand shouted.
The Keepers dispersed and headed back to their homes. When Armand and Adele arrived at their house, they showered and changed into fresh, comfortable clothes and jumped straight into bed. They were exhausted. Armand sat up, reading a book. Adele turned to him.
“We can’t fight a war, Armand,” she said.
“Of course we can. Why not?”
“I can’t fight a war.”
“Of course you can, my warrior. Don’t you remember when we first got started? You helped me bomb the palace.” Armand laughed. “You can do this.”
“I can’t fight this war because I’m pregnant.” Armand threw his book down and looked to Adele to see if she was serious. She was smiling softly. Her eyes twinkled with excitement.
“Oh my god! Are you really?”
“Yes,” Adele replied in a worried tone. A smile formed across Armand’s face.
“My love! I can’t believe it. This is the greatest news I’ve ever heard! You are right. You cannot fight this war. And we should probably not try to fight without our best warrior.”
“Oh I’m not our best warrior.”
“I’ll talk to Nick. He seems to know Zack Temba. We will set up a meeting. We will come to an agreement. I think Temba will do this peacefully. He knows we can hurt him and he doesn’t want to get hurt. He just wants power. We can let him have a degree of power. We will figure it all out, my dear. Don’t worry about anything.”
“Okay. That sounds great.”
“I can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. I can’t believe I’m going to be a father!” Armand exclaimed.
“Well actually, I’ve been really in tune with my body since the training. As soon as I figured out I was pregnant, I knew almost immediately that it was a girl. I mean technically you shouldn’t be able to figure it out for a few more weeks, but something about being a Keeper changed me. I just know it’s a girl.”
“A baby girl.” Armand leaned back on his pillow, grinning. “What will we name her?”
“I did actually have one idea.” Adele reached into her nightstand and pulled out the silver pin Victor had gifted her. “We could name her Dana.”
“For Victor’s wife? Oh Adele, that is such a wonderful idea. You will be the greatest mother.”
Epilogue
Nick Blade stood outside the Biolance headquarters, his fists in balls. He was not looking forward to meeting with Zack Temba, but when Armand explained why it would help the Keepers, he agreed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The wind gently kissed his face in response. He thought back to the year prior.
Nick sat on the grassy hillside, waiting for his best friend Zack to meet him after school. Nick lay on the grass, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth from the sunlight. Suddenly, a shadow cooled his face. He opened his eyes.
“Hey Zack, what’s up?”
“Just came by to tell you I can’t hang out anymore,” Zack replied.
“Why not?” Nick asked, standing up.
“I’m starting my own company so I’ll be busy.”
“Well, can I help or something?”
“No, actually. I’ve already hired a few advisors and they told me I should stop hanging around freaks like you.”
“What? Why?”
“That little trick you showed me. Turns out there have been others like you spotted around town. You’re all a bunch of troublemakers. I won’t associate with riffraff like you.”
“I’m not a freak or a troublemaker, Zack.” Nick clenched his fists in anger.
As if feeling the anger, the earth starting shaking beneath them.
“Yeah, okay, freak”.
Zack laughed and started to walk away. Nick ran after him and pounced, toppling them both to the ground. They wrestled around. Zack got a punch in, but Nick forced his way on top and began punching back. Just then an incredibly strong gust of wind blew the two apart. Nick rolled on his back, panting. He sighed and stood up to face Zack.
“You’ll regret that one day,” Nick said.
“Maybe, but you’ll always be a freak. And I’ll always find a way to defeat you,” Zack sneered. He turned and walked away.
Nick took another deep breath, focusing on the strong gust of wind that had blown the two apart a year before. He knew that was nature warning him not to physically harm another man. He would respect that. He must be in full control of his emotions as a Keeper, and especially as the Keeper who was about to make a bargain with Zack Temba. He relaxed his muscles and entered Biolance.
Drown
Dana was sitting at her window, reading Victor’s book and thinking about the world.
It was raining hard outside, the sky alive with the ponderous thunder of an agitated world. Flashes of lightning illuminated the black letters and the faded green cover of the volume in her lap, a copy of the world’s moral code. Her parents had the original copy, the one with bent yellow pages and Victor’s handwriting in the margins, the scrawling of a scholar desperately unlocking Nature’s best-kept secrets. Everyone else had printed copies, textbooks that varied in content with the age of their intended reader. All the secrets in this book belonged to Water, and everything it had taught Victor about itself.
Victor. The world had been eager to share with him then, but now... Now something was different. Now something was changing. They could all feel it, a tension in the air, a coldness in the water, a dull thrumming in the earth. The world was ill at ease, and so were those who borrowed its power.
Her parents were out in the world, searching for the source of the unrest, carrying with them legions of Keepers. Hunting for whatever it was that had the sea, earth, and sky in such an uproar. Whatever it was, it was dark, it was dangerous, and it was fast gaining power
.
Not that Dana could do anything about it. She was grounded. Again.
She had taken to sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet up with a very special someone. Not that she would have to sneak out, if her parents would let her do anything. Some old friend of theirs, a scientist named Tomb, or Timber, or something to that effect, had promised them not long ago that he would destroy them, whatever that was supposed to mean. It didn’t matter that she could turn a river into a spear and gut somebody with it; her parents were scared for her. Which was infuriating enough on its own, but on top of that, they were also adamant that she was not old enough to date.
She didn’t let that stop her, though. She and John found ways. It wasn’t exactly moral to use Nature’s displeasure as a chance to sneak out, but she’d scoured Victor’s book cover to cover and couldn’t find anything specifically that said that it was. Therefore, she decided to take her wins where she could get them. Her parents were looking for a war and her friends were locked in their houses, waiting out a storm that never seemed to end.
Dana closed the book and pushed back her hair, raven black against the porcelain white skin. Longer than she would have liked, but she hadn’t gotten around to cutting it yet. The dull yellow glow of the lamp by her bed turned it a strange grey when the shadows hit it right. John said he liked it long, but she always wondered if he was just saying that to make her feel better.
“Any second now,” she whispered to herself, tossing the book to the foot of the bed. She closed her eyes and listened to the lightning and the thunder, feeling the vibrations of the rainwater against the window, the clouds, as they condensed and fell and seeped through the mud and dust and rock into the groundwater. It was an old exercise, merging with a storm, but it was one of the only amusing things she could find to do when she was grounded. The rain was at its most tempestuous during a storm, it’s most aggressive and distant, but becoming one with the rain made her feel ever so slightly less alone.
The Great Keeper boxset: Science Fantasy Page 5
