The Elemental's Magic

by Martha Carr

  "And your crew that ran off into the night?"

  "Don't do that. They didn't abandon me. They're my family. They were following orders. Our group needs to stay hidden so cops or Simon don't find us. They're all the rebels I could get to come with me to form a new group. We're trying to keep the ship safe and right where she orbits now, around the sun. This is all we've ever known and it's where we belong. The Milky Way is home now, not some distant galaxy that no one can even remember."

  Maggie thought of Bernie and all the family he had to let go of somewhere far away. "It's not always that easy."

  Ranger's face reddened. "Are you one of them? The Elemental?"

  "No, I'm not sure what I am, but no, I can't see going back to a planet I couldn't even tell you one thing about." She looked over at the cop walking her way, knowing the magic could give way at any moment suddenly revealing them and causing too many questions she didn't want to answer. "You need to go. The beacon didn't work. But I want to see you again, I want to know how you're doing."

  "We're complete strangers, Maggie. I'm not at all who you remember. Ease back the throttle on your magic and I'll transport myself out of here. I've had more years of practice with bubbles than I'm guessing you've had."

  Maggie let herself relax just a little and watched the bubbles thin out around Ranger. "Find me again. Maybe we can get to know each other one more time."

  Ranger blew bubbles out of her hand, quickly surrounding her body as it disappeared right in front of Maggie. Just before her head and shoulders vanished she blurted out, "And work together..."

  "Wait! You have the crystal opal!"

  But she was gone, and just as the officer stumbled over what was now a bare spot, almost tripping into Maggie. "Officer Pike, right? Did you find anything?"

  "Detective Parker! I didn't see you there in the dark," he said, startled. "Must have been a crank call." He scratched the back of his head. "Strangest thing because several different residents called it in."

  "Well, whoever or whatever it was, they're gone for now. Let me know if you find any trace of them."

  Maggie walked away quickly, scanning the bushes and tall grass along the side of the road for any signs of Bernie. She was halfway to the car when she heard something running up beside her and turned to see Bernie panting heavily. "What happened to you?"

  "I got pinned down by those cops. I figured a raccoon dressed up for tubing down the river would spook them and I hung back. Who were the Peabrains? I could smell the roses everywhere." The words came whistling through his sharp teeth.

  "That was a group of rebels who broke off from Simon's tribe. I think they're kind of on our side."

  "You mean, when we figure out our side." He looked up at Maggie, his whiskers twitching. "I get it, I'm a little mixed on things myself. What's best for the ship? What's best for all of us? Me, personally, I've pledged to take care of the passengers so that means I take care of old Mother Earth and as long as she can take it, I stay here. But I'm just one furry little Huldu."

  Maggie got to the car and opened the passenger door for Bernie. She went around to the other side and opened her door, sliding in and turning off the interior light so no one would see a raccoon crawling in next to her. "Put on your seatbelt." She didn't say anything about Ranger on the way home, still taking it in. A piece of her past had come back to her. Maybe Diana will know what to do with the news.

  She picked up her purse and knew it was too light, her pulse quickening. She pulled it open and was relieved to see the compass was still there. But the spyglass was gone. Ranger!

  The sun was barely visible above the wide open sky dotted with large, fluffy white clouds. "It's a new day," Simon Wesley yelled, clapping his hands together.

  He stood up in the remnants of the old burned-out warehouse in front of what was left of his followers. His eyes were completely black and the veins along his face and neck were a deep black showing through his pale skin. He wore a wide grin, and seemed energized by the nervous crowd. The only telltale clues of the old Simon were the beads of sweat along his forehead.

  The crowd gathered in front of him as he climbed a temporary platform of stacked pallets. They looked up at his beaming face, whispering nervously among themselves. He held up a finger to his lips to silence them, but there was still a murmur toward the back. The smile dipped from his face for only a moment as he raised his hand, whipping it down as a pulse of energy pushed through the room sucking the oxygen out, leaving everyone gasping for air.

  "Wonderful! I have your attention. The time has arrived at last!" He practically sang out the words. "Two of the Elementals have already appeared and it's only a matter of time before the others show themselves. It's time to take back what is rightfully ours... our destiny! If Maggie Parker will not join our cause, we will do what is necessary and take back the compass. We will rise to this challenge. We will stand together and bring home victory. Who is with me?"

  No one dared back away from him. They all raised their hands in unison, staring at what had become of Simon Wesley. "Then we must prepare for battle. It's time to end this struggle, once and for all. Our homeland awaits!"

  The Kashgars scrambled over the rocky terrain of McKinney State Park, feeling the rumble of the Dirt Elemental traveling beneath their feet to the same destination. He was leading them to the door, hidden away for so long. Iliad led the way, barreling ahead, his excitement bubbling over, making everyone else fear him just a little bit more. They had been walking for miles across town, letting the ancient creature lead the way by slowly moving under their feet, deep within the Earth.

  A high-ranking Kashgar caught up to Iliad, walking quickly next to him. "Doesn't it bother you that the Elemental doesn't trust us enough to just tell us where the door is? We have to go on this ridiculous forced march across town to be shown to the door personally."

  The smile on Iliad's face became strained even as he kept marching, looking straight ahead, wondering when the rumbling would stop and he would at last be shown the gateway to the heart of the machine. "All that matters is that we find the door. Why should I care if he wants to be there? Once we have the information, the power will all shift to us." He was clearly annoyed but the Kashgar kept going, worrying about what it all meant.

  "That doesn't mean he'll give us access. We could be staring at a solid wall of rock embedded with wards. So close and yet..."

  Iliad reached out and grabbed the man by the throat, briefly stopping in his tracks. "One more word... I dare you to say even one more word."

  The man's face was already turning purple and his eyes were bulging out as Iliad lifted him till he was standing on his toes. He let go and strode away, not bothering to look back as Kashgars passed the fallen gnome who was left barely breathing, laying by the side of the trail.

  25

  Ranger dragged the beacon to the middle of the open field of a small rancher's property in Buda that sat next to a large man-made lake. Black angus cows stood off to one side chewing on grass as ducks stood in their shade. Two other rebels were helping her assemble it quickly, checking the coordinates.

  Ranger crouched down, digging through the lunchbox, her long braid falling over her shoulder. Her fingers felt the edge of what she was searching for and she pulled out the crystal opal carefully wrapped in the remains of an old sweatshirt. Another rebel came and stood across from her, tentatively looking at the small bundle in her hands. "I know what you're thinking, Shooter, but this is why I went to the trouble of getting the thing."

  The young, thin girl's head of loose brown curls blew in the wind whipping across the land. "It's so beautiful. This is going to smash that thing to bits. I'm telling you, it's going to take a lot of energy. And is that even a real body of water? I mean, you know... a Peabrain made it. Does that count?"

  Ranger stood up, reaching out and squeezing the girl's slender calloused hand. "The hydroelectric dam idea was a great one, but it didn't work. We were interrupted before we could get to full strength.
Time is running out. We're going to have to sacrifice the opal crystal and water is water."

  Shooter bit her bottom lip as Ranger unwrapped the crystal and the different edges caught the light, refracting it back to them, shining different colors on the front of their shirts.

  "You have the coordinates?"

  Shooter pulled her phone out and pulled up the numbers. "I worked on them all last night. Why is everything suddenly so urgent? Years have gone by with nothing."

  "The Elementals are appearing, which in some ways is not a good sign. The stories say that they were only supposed to come back together when the time was right. The time was only going to be right if the ship was in trouble. It's like this big, organic thing even knows how to summon magicals without them realizing that's what is happening." Ranger slid the crystal into the homemade slot another rebel had fashioned on the beacon. It fell into place and began to rattle, spinning in a clockwise direction. "Okay, give me the numbers." She looked at Shooter. "Now, you're sure? We only get one chance at this and when the crystal's gone, we're going to be out of ideas for now."

  Shooter nodded her head solemnly, her large brown eyes giving away nothing. "We're good. Move it sixteen degrees to the left."

  Ranger held up a spyglass and looked through it into the sky, calculating the angle, barely moving the beacon.

  Shooter's eyes widened. "Where did you get that? That's amazing." She reached out gently touching the side of the ancient instrument.

  "From an old friend." Ranger lowered it and looked down at the beacon.

  The crystal spun faster, granular pieces wearing off of it, feeding the grains into the beacon, sending the light into the sky where it disappeared.

  "Four degrees center."

  Ranger looked again and nudged the beacon a little to one side, checking the numbers in the glass.

  "One more move, and that's it," said Shooter, biting her lip again. "Three degrees tilted up. Just barely move it." She sucked in air noisily and held it, watching Ranger work.

  Ranger used just two fingers, easing the beacon up slightly. She lifted the spyglass and looked again. The numbers stopped floating across and held steady. "I think we have it. Stand back from it!" A wave of pulsing energy poured out of the beacon as a bright light shone out of it, lighting up the pasture. The cows began mooing, trotting along the fence line toward the barn in the distance as the ducks took flight.

  The energy had Ranger pinned to where she stood. She shoved Shooter and yelled at her, “Run!”

  The crystal churned faster, breaking down further as the light pulsed into the air, filling Ranger's head with a pounding and a bright light poured out of the beacon.

  A loud bang filled the air, sending her backward and slamming her into the hard, Texas ground, knocking the wind out of her and loosening her grip on the spyglass. It rolled away from her, clattering against the ground as she felt her head fall back. She lay there, waiting for the rush of pain rolling through her body to pass. There was a high-pitched whine in her ears mixed with a buzzing sound but just behind it she could barely make out Shooter yelling at her. "Are you okay? Ranger, are you alive?" Ranger tried to lift her arm to reassure her, but only managed to raise a few fingers.

  Shooter went behind her, scooping her hands under Ranger's shoulders and helping her up to a seated position. It only made Ranger's stomach lurch and she leaned over to the side, throwing up all its contents. She cleared her throat and wiped her mouth on her sleeve as the noise in her head subsided and she could finally get in a deep breath and take a look around. The earth was scorched where the beacon had been sitting but the beacon itself was nowhere to be found, along with the crystal. She quickly glanced to the other side and saw the spyglass, rolling to her knees so she could reach it and fold it up, putting it in her pocket. Some day I might want to return this.

  "I'm not sure it worked," said Shooter, glancing up into the sky, shading her eyes with her hand.

  Ranger slowly made her way to her feet, her hands on her knees as she took a few more deep breaths. "Short of the Water Elemental standing in front of us, I'm not sure we'd know what success would look like. Now we wait."

  26

  Maggie and Bernie sat at the edge of the park at the highest point watching the column of Kashgars make their way to the Lower Falls.

  "Those don't look like your typical Kashgars. They look more like some of the brutes we met in the tunnel. What's that about?" Maggie crouched down to stay out of view in case one of them should look in their direction, far above on a summit.

  "Those are some throwbacks. Kind of like the cousin you might want to keep in the attic away from the neighbors. Only the Kashgars decided to cultivate them and make them into an army. They're bred to be fighters and mostly kept out of sight. Imagine if a few Peabrains caught sight of that."

  Maggie looked down at the column and felt a shudder go through her. "They're here in case we show up."

  "I'd say that's a good guess and to take us out, if we do. We're going to need a lot of reinforcements, particularly with the big guy on their side, burrowing under the ground."

  "I'm still hoping we can change his mind before this goes any further. That doesn't look like a group that knows how to negotiate."

  "That's not Iliad's strong suit. You saw what he did to Jake, and that's his family. They're not exactly making it hard to track them," said Bernie. "Tall bastards. For once their height is helping us out."

  "I don't think they care anymore if we do know. They're that confident that the Dirt Elemental has joined their team. We have to figure out how to convince him of the truth before it's too late."

  "You're going to hug a tree, aren't you."

  "Well, if both Dirt and the trees are connected to the ship and were created by the ship, then I may be able to hear the Elemental as well and talk to him through the trees."

  "Worth a shot. You go do your thing. I'll keep watch. There's a nice poplar right over there. Okay, sure, a live oak. Why not?"

  Maggie gently pressed her hand against the trunk of the tree, letting go of the thoughts racing through her head. There were a lot of them. She had gotten home last night to find Wilmark sitting by Jake's side, still tucked in her bed. It didn't take long for her to realize both of them were worse off than when she lad left.

  "What happened?" she had asked, as Wilmark held his arm tight against his ribs.

  "Jake is okay," he had said. "He's just worn out from saving my life."

  Maggie had looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering who to tend to first. Wilmark won out.

  His breathing had been labored even as he was trying to explain the power of the Dirt Elemental. Great, now two large, uncontrollable beings want me dead. Let that go, let that go. She had helped Wilmark into the guest room and practically yelled at him to lie down in a proper bed and get some rest. No more chairs for him.

  She stayed long enough to help him pull off his boots and his tunic, checking his ribs to make sure he wasn't in any danger. Her fingers ran easily over his toned midriff, searching for anything sharp. "I can't feel anything but I'll get Diana to take a look," she had said. "Magic won't fix this?"

  She had looked up in time to see the pain and worry in his eyes. That was something new. "You're worried about me, aren't you? Lie down, it'll be okay."

  "You don't know that."

  "I'm operating off that belief and it hasn't failed me yet. Go to sleep, I'll be right across the hall."

  She had seen the glance he had given her at the mention of sleeping with Jake, but she ignored it and had made her way back to Jake's side. Once inside the room with the door tightly shut, she had stripped off her clothes, letting them drop on the floor and slid in next to him, feeling the warmth of his skin next to hers as she drifted off to sleep, her hand on his chest rising and falling with each breath.

  She took her hand off the tree and tried again. All the thoughts of Jake and Wilmark were getting in the way. "Shake it off Parker."

 
"What's that?" Bernie craned his head in her direction, his whiskers twitching.

  "Nothing, just getting centered." Okay, let everything go. Everything. A cool thread of energy passed through her head and the buzz picked up on the back of her neck as she put her hand back on the tree and felt herself easily slip through. She found herself inside, looking around at the glowing blue light as a glowing ladybug spread its wings, fluttering in front of her nose. A calm came over her as she felt herself connect to the tree, and the connection spread, reaching out to other trees. She could hear the chatter passing back and forth, warning of the fragility of the tree roots. They were busy sorting through answers, trying to find a solution, but so far, nothing was working.

  "Can you help me?" she whispered. The chatter waned as if the entire system of trees was bending toward the Elemental, wanting to hear what she had to say. She tilted her chin up, looking up through the center of the tree as the blue glow stretched into the darkness. "The Dirt Elemental is awake, but he's been lied to by the Kashgars and he thinks I mean the world harm. I don't know how to help him see the truth. Can he hear you?" She put out her hand to touch the inner workings of the tree and felt a surge of energy pass through her hand, down her arm and through her body, passing through her feet. I'm another conduit, just like the tree. The thought surprised her, drawing her closer, mixing her energy even further with the trees.

  Send a message.

  Tell the Dirt Elemental who she is.

  Warn him of the Kashgars.

  Despite the dire warnings it sounded like music to Maggie. The rise and fall of the sounds the trees made as the messages were relayed. Until the system hit a wall.

  He's not listening.

  He's not listening.

  He's not listening.

  The message was repeated over and over again as the trees pushed the message forward, only to be turned away. Maggie could feel their distress, with no way to calm them. She put out her hands, touching the tree. "It's okay, tell him anyway. He'll hear you and maybe it will help."