by A. L. Knorr
“You couldn’t see Akiko.” The hairs on my forearms stood at attention.
Georjie nodded and looked miserable.
“It’s not your fault. No one knew what was coming.” I said these comforting words to Georjie, but my stomach felt like stone. It was confirmation that Akiko really was gone.
"Akiko said herself that she didn't think she was one of us," Targa said, her voice just above a whisper.
"She'll always be one of us," I said, my throat tightening.
"Of course," Georjie said, "Akiko is family. But she's not an Elemental, she's something else, something not so earthly."
"So what's your theory then?" Targa's eyes looked almost black in the dying light. They shone as they looked at Georjie, expectant.
"When I got home from Ireland, I went out into my backyard and took off my shoes."
"If anyone had ever told me I'd see you walk barefoot through dirt I would have laughed in their face," I said with a smile. "Oh, how things change."
"Yeah." Targa chuckled.
Georjie smiled. "Have you guys ever heard of ley lines?"
I shook my head and Targa said she hadn't either.
"My Aunt Faith first told me about them. She said they are energetically rich lines running through the earth like a grid. Ley lines connect places with supernatural significance. The places in the grid where the ley lines meet are, as you can imagine, very rich with supernatural energy. And the ley lines move; they're not always in the same place. When I take off my shoes and stand with my feet in the dirt, I can see them."
Targa and I shared an impressed glance. "Really?" I leaned forward. "What do they look like?"
"Like a stripe of bright light."
"The way your eyes look when you're the Wise," Targa added.
Georjie nodded. "Saltford sits at the intersection of three of these lines. In fact, our high school sits right where they cross."
I dropped my chin with surprise. "Three?"
We went silent and listened to the crickets chirp for a moment.
"So, what do you think that means?" I asked.
"With no one to explain it to me, I have to guess," Georjie said. "But I think it means Gaia, if you want to use the term, has chosen us to be a benevolent force against forces like this." She jerked her chin at the cinders in the bowl. "Maybe this is nature's way of fighting back?"
"Sat," Targa said.
"What?" Georjie and I looked at her, confused.
"You said sits at the intersection of three ley lines. But our high school doesn't exist anymore."
"Maybe that's a good thing," I said holding up my hands. "Don't shoot me, but my little brother has some funky powers too, and maybe Gaia wasn't sure where to stop. I don't fancy someone like Nick Hiller or Pat Ulley getting supernatural powers, do you?"
Georjie and Targa laughed at the idea of two of the biggest bullies in school becoming supernaturals.
Georjie leaned forward. "They say that after high school, friends grow apart and real life begins." She looked at me. "You're going to go to Arcturus and who knows who you'll meet and what you'll learn." She shifted her gaze to Targa. "If I can read you right, I'm guessing you're going to be on a plane to Poland pretty soon."
Targa didn't deny it.
Georjie reached out a hand and clasped one of mine and one of Targa's, bringing them together and putting her other hand over the top.
"I promise, that no matter where life takes us, no matter how far apart we might travel, that if you ever need me, I'll come running. You don't have to promise me the same, I would never put that kind of pressure on you, but I want you to know that everything I am loves everything you are, and always will."
It surprised me to discover I had tears pouring down my face, and neither Targa's nor Georjie's cheeks were dry either. I squeezed my friends’ hands.
"Me too," I sniffed. "I can't say it as eloquently as that. But I love you both. When you need me, you call me. I'll move heaven and earth to be there."
Targa's eyes were shining and water was streaming from her eyes unbidden. "I also promise this."
Epilogue
AKIKO
A long sword lit with blue flames stood point down in a block of white marble. The landscape was a white backdrop of nothingness. I was in the Æther, but I couldn't remember getting here. I looked down at myself, my hands. I was whole, and dressed in jeans and a white and blue plaid shirt. It was an outfit I knew well and in fact it was the last outfit I could remember wearing. I looked up at the flaming sword again, then looked behind myself for someone or something that might clue me in to what was happening.
"Yuudai?" My voice echoed into infinity.
Slowly, my friend materialized from the white.
"Akiko," he began, but stopped when he saw the flaming sword. His face became still. "So, you won then."
"Won?"
"You defeated the Archon."
I gasped and staggered backward as the memory hit me. It came flooding out of the white and all around me, filling my memory suddenly like a brilliant liquid.
I'm dead. I should be dead. Is this death?
"Why are you here?" was the question that came out of my mouth.
"You called me, Akiko," Yuudai answered with a smile, his black hair swayed gently against his shoulders, moving from the heat of the sword.
"Why am I here?" Yes, that was a better question.
"To take this up, I presume." Yuudai gestured to the sword. "After all, it's got your name on it."
I stared at the sword, seeing no name anywhere. I walked forward, and the blazing blue fire from the sword was both hot and cold against my face. I had sensation. It was the only thing I could feel, in fact. My eyes dropped the length of it to the white marble where glyphs were engraved into the stone. I squinted at them and they seemed to swim and change and form a word I could read. My own name.
"I don't understand, Yuudai. Help me make sense of this, please." My fingers curled in and out and I found myself positively yearning to take the sword in my hand.
He chuckled softly. "I should think it self-explanatory, but if you need it spelled out, I can do that. Little Hanta willingly gave up her life in the ultimate act of love."
"So I did die then?"
"It's what you thought was going to happen," he went on, "otherwise you would not see this beautiful flaming weapon in front of you. But Hanta don't die. They ascend."
"Asc-" I stopped. "What am I now then? An archangel or something?"
Yuudai put a finger to his lips and smiled. "Drop the arch, I think, but I'm no expert."
I let out a long breath and the blue flames leapt and danced toward me, calling to me. "What happens when I touch it?"
"We'll say goodbye, I should think. You'll be going where I can't follow." He spread his hands. "The rest is a mystery."
"Can I ever be human again?" I looked at him. "Will I ever see my friends again?"
I was already grasping for their names, which seemed to be fading from my memory the way water evaporates from cloth.
"You were never human to begin with, Akiko."
"Wait!" There were faces swimming in my mind, faces I loved but faces that were already fading. "I don't want to forget!"
I sucked in a breath, clutching at the memories of my human experience. I was losing them. And fast.
Desperately, I called out to the man with the black hair who was also fading into the white. "Tell them I love them!" Tell them…"
He was gone. There was nothing but me and the blue sword and being drawn toward it like a magnet. The sword was irresistible.
I moved forward on a strong, confident stride with nothing else in my mind but the sword.
My sword.
I wrapped my hands around the flaming blue handle, pulling it free from the marble. The blue flames engulfed my hand, my arm, my body, filling me, changing me.
I am Malachi, the sword whispered to my mind. Welcome, Angel.
<<<<>>>>
What to read
next…
Surfacing ties together Returning and Born of Water and chronicles Mira’s struggles as a single mom and how she joined the all-male salvage team. Don’t miss it! Preorder your copy by clicking on the cover graphic.
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to Teresa Hull and Nicola Aquino for their sharp eyes and even sharper questions. Thank you to my VIP Reader’s for their never ending support and encouragement (and defence against trolls). Thank you to my family and friends for having my back and standing with me when things are hard. Thank you to YOU, dear reader for having enough faith in me to pick this book up and make it to the end of the Elemental Origins Series!
Does this book signal the end of these characters’ stories? Not at all! Even now I am working on Surfacing, a story that links Returning to Born of Water. I also have more stories percolating for Saxony, Targa, and Georjayna. I hope you’ll join them on their adventures!
If you enjoyed this story, or any of my work, please take the time to pen a review on Amazon, they help authors like me even more than you know! Positive reviews make a title more visible so other readers who might like them can find them more easily.
Thank you again for spending some of your reading time with me. Now it’s back to the keyboard!
Warm hugs,
Abby
About the Author
A.L. Knorr is a rocketing Canadian author with more than 116,500 copies of her books downloaded in her first year of publishing. A nature enthusiast who loves shipwrecks, nautical history, and well-written fantasy, Abby dreamed of being a writer since she understood what a story was. She has plans to expand the Elemental stories, especially focusing on mermaid stories in 2018. Join Abby and other readers in her private VIP Reader Lounge group on Facebook, or sign up for a free copy of Returning, Episode I on her website at www.alknorrbooks.com.
