by Ali House
“And look at how peaceful life has been since the Last World War.”
“It was peaceful until your great-grandfather invaded Stanton.”
Erikson laughed. “Minor details.”
The detail wasn’t minor in Kit’s mind. How many people, on both sides, had died because of his great-grandfather? How many lives were destroyed because of him?
“You’ve got spirit, which is good. The Six-Elemental shouldn’t be one to roll over and play dead.” He smiled at her. “We’ve got such plans for you.”
“What kind of plans?”
“You’ll see.” He smiled again and left the room.
Kit suddenly felt weak and drained of energy. Had she actually been in a room with Magnus Erikson? This couldn’t be happening to her.
Eston entered a few minutes later. “How are you feeling?”
“What kind of plans do you have for me?” she asked.
“There are a lot of plans, so you’ll have to be more specific.”
“I’m not going to join your side.”
Eston shrugged. “Say what you will, but I think our side is actually very reasonable. The Centre wants to be in charge of everything, but they’re too chicken to do anything about real threats, like the growing hostility within the Church of Humanity.”
“But war -”
“We’re not talking about war,” Eston replied carefully. “We’re talking about unity. Above you or me or everything else in this world, the most important thing is unity. That is something that the Church of Humanity doesn’t seem to want to realize. Right now the world is split into a million different directions and they all need to come together again – under the right leader.”
Kit didn’t know what to say to that. She knew that it was crap, but he made it sound so reasonable.
Eston knelt down next to her. “Do you understand?”
Too late she saw the needle in his hand, felt the pinch as he stuck it in her arm.
“Don’t worry, this will make you tired but you won’t want to sleep.”
“Why?”
“It’s time for the next step.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Vaughn didn’t know what to do. Kit had been missing for four days and there was no sign of her anywhere. Triton was told about her disappearance, but there was nothing he could do other than recommend that they talk to the police and have her reported as a missing person.
Bryanna was taking it hard. She had been the one who’d asked Kit to go out, and she was the one who had been dancing while Kit was taken. Cale and Vaughn tried to reassure her, and tell her that there was nothing she could have done, but she wouldn’t listen and continued to blame herself.
Zenyth reminded them that Nathan knew about Bryanna as well as Kit, so why would Tecken take one and not the other? Was it possible that Kit had just buckled under the pressure and run away? She had been acting strange since that night with Nathan.
Nobody else believed that Kit would run away. Naydir wondered if it was it a matter of logistics. Had Kit simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Vaughn knew why Kit had been targeted, but he couldn’t say. He tried to make it sound like it was an act of personal revenge – that Nathan was angry at Kit’s deception and targeted her because of it – but nobody else believed that Tecken would waste time and resources on a personal grudge.
Vaughn had a sick feeling in his stomach every time they talked about it, which was a lot. He knew it was possible that Nathan had seen the exact same things he had in that house, and that he knew what they meant. It was after the incident with Nathan that Kit became serious about working on her elements and getting stronger. Did she suspect that Nathan knew?
But how could Vaughn say anything now? They’d wonder why he kept the information from them. Yes, it hadn’t been his information to give, but if he’d convinced Kit to tell someone, then the ISS might have increased security around her and prevented this.
He was still hoping that she would magically show up, apologizing for having lost track of time while training. If he told someone her secret and she was fine, she’d never forgive him.
But what if she wasn’t fine? What if telling them was the only way to get her back?
“Tecken has her,” Vaughn said one night while everyone was in the living room. The television was on, but only Cale was paying attention. Kit had been missing for one week.
They all turned and looked at him.
“What did you say?” Zenyth asked.
“I know Tecken has Kit.”
“Why?” Naydir said.
“Because... Because she has something that they want.”
“Could you be any more cryptic?” Zenyth complained.
Vaughn tried to think of a way to say this that wouldn’t result in Zenyth killing him. He came up with nothing.
“I don’t know how Tecken found out, but I think that Nathan discovered her secret and he’s the reason she’s missing.”
Bryanna was confused. “But Nathan’s been in hiding since the warrant for his arrest.”
“We have no idea how many Tecken soldiers are on this island. They could be the ones responsible for taking Kit.”
“What secret are you talking about?” Zenyth said. “Why would the Tecken army care about a secret Kit has? What would be so important that they would have to kidnap her?”
Vaughn took in a deep breath. It was now or never.
“Kit has... six.... elements.”
They all stared at him blankly.
“No she doesn’t,” Bryanna said. “She has one – Electricity.”
“No, she has six.”
“Nobody has six elements,” Zenyth scoffed.
Naydir was confused. “But if she has six elements that would make her...”
Vaughn nodded.
“What? How? But...”
“I’ve seen her use them. I’ve also seen the other Tattoos. That’s why she doesn’t wear revealing clothing, because she has to hide them.”
The room was silent as everyone processed the information.
Bryanna put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god...” Her eyes widened as she remembered how much trouble she had shopping with Kit. Was that the reason why? Was it actually true?
“I’m going to kill her,” Zenyth said slowly. “Then I’ll resurrect her and kill her again, and resurrect her and kill her a third time because I won’t be satisfied killing her just twice.”
“She didn’t want anyone to know because she wasn’t ready,” Vaughn explained.
“Ready for what? She’s the freaking Six-Elemental! She could win this for us!”
Vaughn suddenly gained a greater understanding of why Kit wanted to keep this a secret.
“We’ll have to tell Triton,” Naydir said, putting his head in his hands. He was not looking forward to this conversation at all. He looked at Vaughn. “Are you absolutely certain?”
“One hundred percent.”
Zenyth groaned. “Great; we not only get to tell Triton that we had the Six-Elemental on our side, but that we lost her because she was too stubborn to tell anyone the truth.”
“She was scared,” Vaughn said. “She only told me because she had to.”
Naydir stood up. “I’m phoning him right now.”
“What do you think Tecken’s going to do to her?” Bryanna asked as Naydir walked out of the room. She couldn’t help imagining all kinds of horrible experiments.
“It’s in their best interest to get her on their side,” Zenyth replied. “Her power would tip the scales in their favor.”
Bryanna shook her head. “She’d never join their side. Kit’s on our side.”
“We don’t know that.”
Cale laughed. “Of course we know that. She was a part of this group, and none of us would team up with Tecken.”
“Kit would never join them,” Vaughn agreed. “She wanted to avoid a war, not start one.”
“Say what you want,” Zenyth said. “The facts are that Kit has been kid
napped by Tecken and she’s been missing for seven days. Our worst case scenario is that she’s been turned and has joined their side. Our best case scenario is that they’ve killed her and are using her body for scientific research.”
Bryanna’s face went pale.
“Zenyth! Stop!” Vaughn shouted angrily.
“I’m not going to sugar-coat this, Vaughn!” Zenyth yelled back. “Whatever Tecken does to Kit, we can be sure of one thing: we’re not going to get her back.”
Kit was exhausted. She wanted to sleep, but they kept waking her up. The chair they had her tied to was uncomfortable, but it had been so long since she’d had more than a few minutes sleep.
The room had black walls, a black ceiling and a black floor. The only things in the room were the chair, herself and the woman in front of her. In her exhaustion, she wasn’t even able to make out where the door was. She had no idea how long she’d been in the room, but it felt like forever.
She was wearing a pair of dark blue cargo pants and a black shirt. Why was she wearing this outfit? Hadn’t she been wearing a dress?
“What is your name?” the woman asked.
“Kit Tyler.”
She smiled. She had a sharp, angular face with white eyes and short white hair. Her face was the only one Kit had seen since she was brought into this room. The woman was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and blue tie that had subtle swirls on it. She couldn’t remember if the woman had changed her tie recently or if she’d been wearing it all along.
“And where did you grow up?” the woman asked.
“I...” she paused. She wasn’t sure of the answer. A few different places floated around in her mind, but she wasn’t sure which one was right. “Briton?”
“No, Kit,” her voice was soft and hypnotic. “You grew up on Tecken.”
“I thought I grew up on Briton.”
“Why would you think that? Briton is no place for a person like you. Briton is full of Humanists, and Humanists are horrible people. Why would you want to grow up there?”
“I didn’t want... My mother...”
“Your mother is back on Tecken, along with your sisters.”
“What about my step-father?”
“Kit, you don’t have a step-father. Your mother never remarried after your father’s death.”
She was getting confused again. “No, I have a step-father. He’s a jerk. His name is...” her voice trailed off again.
“He doesn’t exist.”
“He doesn’t?”
“Would you like to have a step-father that’s a jerk?”
She didn’t know what to say to that.
“Your mother never remarried. You’re getting confused again, Kit.”
“I am?” She shut her eyes and let her head fall to her chest. She was so tired.
The woman gently shook her. “You’re not allowed to sleep yet.”
“Please…”
“Not until we’re finished, Kit. You’re confused. We need to fix this.”
“How?”
“I need you to realize what’s real and what’s not.”
She was so tired. There were so many words and facts bouncing around in her head, and she couldn’t make sense of anything. Her head dropped forward again, but the woman wouldn’t let her sleep. She just wanted to sleep. She wanted to leave this room and crawl into bed and sleep for a year.
“You can’t sleep yet. Not until we’ve helped you. Now, what is your name?”
“Kit Tyler.”
She smiled at her again. “And where did you grow up?”
“I... I grew up on Tecken.”
Part Two
Once upon a time, the Earth was covered in great lands and was filled with many different people. Then something terrible happened and there was a lot of fighting between the people. The large lands were broken into smaller pieces and many people did not survive. Those who were left behind were very heartbroken about what had happened, but also hopeful for the future.
There was a lot of rebuilding that had to be done, because the Earth had been through so much, and the people were worried that they would not be able to get things back to the way they had been. They spent a lot of time planning what they had to do and figuring out the best way to start. Everyone tried to work on their own projects, but it was difficult work and they were scared that they would not succeed.
Then one day a mysterious stranger walked into the city and asked if he could help with the rebuilding. None of the people knew anything about the stranger, but he had offered his help and they needed it. After they said yes, the stranger revealed that he had the power to control more than one element. In fact, the stranger had the ability to control all six of the elements!
The people were shocked and surprised, but the stranger’s ability to use of all of the elements made the rebuilding much easier. They finished their goals quickly and soon the city was able to sustain everyone in it. The people were overjoyed! Now they could start rebuilding the other cities, and they could bring the Earth back to what it had once been.
They all wanted to thank the stranger for helping them during such a difficult time, but when they went to find him, he had disappeared. They searched for him for a long time, but he was nowhere to be found. Soon they realized that the stranger did not want to be found and they stopped the search, but they never forgot about the help that the stranger gave them and how his kindness had helped rebuild this new world.
- The Six-Elemental; a Fairy Tale by Krysteph Sage
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The stack of paper on Triton’s desk needed to be dealt with, but Triton could only stare at the pages blankly. Naydir’s call had been quite a shock to him, one from which he still hadn’t recovered.
How could the Six-Elemental be in his midst without him knowing? He had been in charge of background checks and personnel files for eight years now, so he wasn’t exactly new at this. How could he have missed something so important?
But he hadn’t been looking for a Six-Elemental. Such a person wasn’t supposed to even exist. How could he find something that wasn’t supposed to be there?
The papers on his desk taunted him, but he knew that he’d never be able to concentrate on work right now. He had to figure out how this had happened. How had Kit managed to Accept all six elements? Why did she hide this information from him? What was Tecken doing to her?
He’d told Frederick about Kit’s secret, although he wasn’t sure what Stanton’s leader was going to do with the information. At first Frederick didn’t believe him and thought that he was making it up so that they’d put more effort into finding Kit. Then Triton had gone into detail, telling her what Naydir had said over the phone.
In the end Frederick had to believe it. She called the Council of Twelve, informed them about the changes to the situation, and left the decision in their hands. They’d decide if something had to be done in the search for Kit, or they’d decide if it was too late.
If Tecken had Kit, they weren’t going to let her go. Even if she wasn’t very strong, they’d never let the ISS have the Six-Elemental on their side.
Triton was certain that she would never join Tecken. Well, he was fairly certain. He had no idea what kind of tactics Erikson would use to try to get the Six-Elemental to fight on their side. Would they use blackmail or threats? Kit would never join them without a fight, but Triton knew that most people had a breaking point. What if they found hers?
Or what if they didn’t want to bother with all of that? They might decide that it would be better to study her and figure out how to make other Six-Elementals. Would they keep her alive for that?
Triton turned away from his desk and stared out the window at the island of Stanton. The island had managed to rebuild, but there were still areas that had yet to return to normal. If there was another invasion, he wasn’t sure that the island would be able to survive.
Even before she opened her eyes, Kit could feel the pounding headache. She didn’t know why her
head hurt so much. Cautiously she opened one eye, but there was no light for her to worry about – the room was pitch black.
As much as she wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep, Kit pulled herself into a sitting position. This was not the kind of headache that went away on its own. There had to be pills or something to help her nearby. In order to look for the supposed pills, she’d have to turn on the lights, but the discomfort would be worth it if it also brought relief.
Standing, she moved left, where the door was supposed to be. Her hand traced along the wall, searching for a light switch. Finally she found it and turned it on, lighting up the room.
She quickly shut her eyes against the brightness. Eventually she’d have to open them, but right now she couldn’t look at it. Leaning against the door, she waited for before opening her eyes. It was brighter than she’d like, but at least she could see everything.
For a split-second she thought that she was in the wrong room, but then she realized that this was her room. Her clothes were in the closet and her books on the desk. There was a bottle of pills on her desk and a glass of water. Kit opened the bottle and swallowed three pills with the water. Then she lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, and waited for the medication to work its magic.
When the pain finally went down to a dull throb, she opened her eyes again. The room was still the same as before and the strange feeling had gone away. Looking at the clock on her desk, she saw that it was time for breakfast. At the thought of food, her stomach let out a growl. She felt as if she hadn’t eaten for days.
Kit changed into a pair of blue cargo pants and a black tank top. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail before glancing in the mirror to make sure she looked okay. It was then that she noticed the large bruise on her left cheek.
It was strange, but she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten the bruise. It was dark purple and blue, so it was fairly new. When she put a hand up to it, it was tender and hurt to touch. She must have been in a fight, but with whom? Was that why her head hurt? It was possible that she’d been injured during training, but why couldn’t she remember it? Maybe her head had been damaged. Maybe she had a concussion.
