by Regan Claire
“I think the Clade must have been doing something like that last night. But he was using his energy to stab AND push at me. Like, doing both, I guess. Luke, he was so powerful! How are we supposed to fight more than one of those guys?” It just seemed so unfair!
“Well, you certainly aren’t supposed to be fighting alone. And, you have only learned to defend yourself so far, not fight back. You got lucky last night,” Luke responded.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I was well aware of how lucky I was. My ribs were still a touch achy, and that was after a night’s worth of Dove’s magic healing me up.
“I wanted to go over that first since I can’t show it to you. Now, about Shielding: there’s more than one way you can use it. Right now both of you have been using the Elemental energy, instead of its physical aspect, to Shield. You naturally do the opposite of what you do while Bending. Now, usually I’d say keep it to the Energy-only-shield, but sometimes making them physical can be real handy. If you use Earth,” he created an Earth Shield around his hand as a quick example, “and build it up, it’ll block everything that you’ve Shielded from view. Which can be good in a battle, especially since you’ll be trying to Shield as many people as possible to hide your numbers.”
“Battle? Like an honest-to-goodness battle?” All I could think of was the battles in Lord of the Rings. That so did not look fun.
“Yeah, Dad said there hasn’t been one in a while, but we’re supposed to train for it just in case and our main job is to Shield as large an area as possible to protect the Elfennol who are fighting. Oh, and strategy. Or something.” He shrugged a shoulder, unfazed by the thought of a battle.
“That’s right, Cash, though you might want to pay better attention to the ‘or something’ next time Connor is telling you about it.” Luke ruffled Cash’s hair, making my cousin look like a little boy with the gesture. “The fun stuff comes from Shielding with the other elements. Fire, Air, and Water are all very mobile. Physically Shield with them, and it doesn’t only protect you, but it can double up as an offensive ability if your enemies come close. If it’s strong enough, you could just Shield with a swirling mass of wind and water, basically become a hurricane, and walk into a mass of enemies and do some serious damage.” He couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice at the thought. “I don’t suggest you do that, exactly, but it’s nice to know you can. Be careful though, because that type of shield affects everything it comes in contact with. You might end up hurting your allies along with you enemies. Now, we just discovered that you can Shield objects that are away from you. Imagine if you Shielded your enemy with Fire. You could burn them up. Shield them the right way with Air, and you could suffocate the-”
“Llewellyn mentioned being able to do that, suck away the air from someone, but Connor hasn’t told us how yet.”
“He’s told me. It’s easy,” Cash added in. ‘You just Gather from their lungs, then Bend all the air around them away. Just clear it all out. I haven’t done both steps together, but Dad has let me do them each separately a few times.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.” I forgot sometimes that Cash had been having lessons far longer than me. I wondered what else he knew that I didn’t. Probably a lot.
“Well, I haven’t had a chance to test that yet, not had to fight anyone in a while,” Luke gave a little smirk, “but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Wish I’d thought of it during the war.” I’d only known he’d fought in Vietnam because Cash told me, but this was the first time that I heard Luke say anything about it and he sounded… excited. Cash did mention that the family rumor-mill said that Luke thrived on danger when he was younger.
“Well, it’s sounds really… effective,” I added, a little taken aback by Luke’s sudden bloodthirsty tone.
“I can’t wait to try it out.” Cash looked eager for a fight. I’d had my fill, but had a feeling that the universe didn’t agree.
“Ok, now for this last bit let’s go downstairs. I’m gonna teach you how to fight.” Luke’s words got me excited for all of two seconds before Cash’s phone rang on our way down the stairs.
“It’s Dad,” he told us as he answered. About thirty seconds of conversation later, he was off the phone and telling me we had to head back to the house ASAP.
“Uncle Luke, Dad said he’s heard back from the Elfennol. Says we need to get home, like now. Mind giving us a ride back?”
“You two can just take my truck back. I can get a ride back home no problem. Della, I’ll finish cleaning up those paintbrushes for you, and lock up. Just bring my truck to me tomorrow, both of you, so we can go over Earth Tempering a little more, and I’ll show you the best ways to use it.” Then he shooed us off.
Cash took the stairs two at a time and drove the quarter mile back to his house so quickly I was getting worried. His dad must have sounded really urgent on the phone for Cash to be in such a hurry, because he jogged to the door and into the house once we pulled into the driveway. I was right behind him when he walked into the kitchen, where Conner and Ellis were standing by the sink waiting for us.
“Dad, what’s happening? Is everything okay? What’d they say?”
“Well, they didn’t have too much to say about the Clade getting through. They set up a time for the testing, though.”
“Is that all? We knew that was happening soon.” Cash seemed unfazed by the news.
Connor shook his head. “No, not for you. Or, not just for you. They want Della. Insisted upon seeing and testing her. You two will be going tomorrow at dawn.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
January 15th, 1969
Dear Journal,
Poor Anise has been in her room for the past three days, crying. L Neale has enlisted in the army. We’ve both heard of all the lives lost in Vietnam, and Anise is nearly inconsolable at the thought of L being over there. As callous as it seems, I’m not terribly worried that he will lose his life. He has his abilities, after all, and has been trained for warfare against the Clades and they are an enemy far worse than any human could hope to be. Mark is furious with his son, as he only found out on the day of L’s final examination, and he was sent to basic training the following day! I’m quite disappointed in him, as well; we have our own fight to worry about and must remain vigilante always. T has been by to check on my daughter, and has brought her a few letters from his brother. She, however, has refused to read any of them since he has “chosen death over love”. The boy neglected to tell even her of his plans for the future, and I fear my daughter’s heart will never heal from it.
“Crap,” Cash said, walking over to the kitchen island and taking a seat on one of the bar stools there.
“Why do they want me there?”
“We already told you that the future family-heads are tested by the Elfennol,” Cash said. Duh, me. I knew that Llewellyn had been a Deare, and the head of the family, with Mark leading the Neale family in their generation. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out on my own, that I was the only female Deare. Hell, I was the only Deare left with the name.
I sat on the stool next to Cash. “Well, other than my being an idiot, why is this such a surprise to everyone else?”
“They usually give an entire month to prepare. They’ve given us less than a day this time around. I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean, I’ve never heard of its happening before. And they were very specific about having you there, Della. I have a feeling that they will come and collect you if you don’t show up.”
“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t go?”
“No. Again, we knew that you’d have to go eventually. But they’ve never been so urgent about it. Something about it just doesn’t feel right.”
“So if it doesn’t feel right, are we still going?” Cash asked.
“I don’t see any reason not to go. They aren’t our enemies. It’s just very curious. Now we’ve got a lot of things to go over before tomorrow, so why don’t we get started? Ellis, you don’t have to stay for this.”
“Great. I need to make some phone calls to Europe, see if they’ve been getting strange activity there as well.” Then my aunt gave her husband a kiss and walked towards the office where she started making phone calls. To Europe.
“Is she talking about Clades? They have Clades in Europe?” I asked, horrified by the thought.
“Yeah, it’s a worldwide epidemic,” Cash said dryly, and I fought not to smile at his words since I knew it was a serious matter.
“First, Della,” Connor continued, “I want to apologize for my father this morning. I didn’t know he was coming over. I know that you aren’t interested in a relationship with him, but…”
“But what?”
“But he’s going to be there tomorrow. At the testing. Even though he’s stepped down, he still plays an important role in this fight. I need you to understand that, at least.”
“So no fighting in front of the Elfennol.” I said, frowning.
“Yes, no fighting. Now, both of you will be tested together. That’s pretty normal. Gabby and I weren’t tested at the same time, but my parents were since they were closer to the same age. I didn’t expect you two to be called at the same time, but I’m not very surprised since there’s not even three years between you two.”
“Where will we be meeting them tomorrow?” I asked.
“I forget how little you know. We’ll be going to one of their outposts. It’s about thirty miles south-east of here.”
“They have their own island? How do they hide it from satellites?”
“They don’t. It’s not an island. The base is underwater in a top secret location, like in a spy movie.” Cash cocked his finger like a gun and pulled out his best phony British accent, “The names Neale, Cash Neale.” Gotta love Cash’s enthusiasm.
“Be serious. How would we get there?” But looking at my uncle’s nodding head proved that Cash wasn’t lying. “What? But, how… Is there a submarine, or something?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll be swimming there,” Connor told me.
“I can’t swim thirty miles!” Yeah, I was the ridiculous one, with my cousin aiming his finger-gun and my uncle talking about swimming thirty miles as if it were a jog in the park. I never tired out while swimming, but thirty miles seemed pretty extreme. And it was in the ocean. What if a shark got us? I crossed my arms and glared at my absurd relatives.
“Della, you forget what you are. You could swim much farther than that without getting tired. You’ve been practicing Gathering while using the energy, right?” I nodded my head. “Well, if you know how to do that then you won’t have a problem. How about you, Cash?”
“I’ve got it, Dad.”
“Good. Now, neither of you have met an Elfennol before. They look like us, but they aren’t human. You must keep that in the forefront of your minds. Most of them don’t spend a lot of time around humans, and they tend to be very literal. So, no smart mouth sarcasm, Cash. They also can tell if we lie by our auras. So no lying, Cash.”
“Jeez, dad, I’ll behave.” My cousin interrupted, both hands raised up in defense.
Uncle Connor just lowered his head and shook it, “The Elfennol are ruled by a council of three, which are the heads of the three main families, and they will be the ones testing you. Everyone there is affiliated to the three families, so be respectful. Now, not everyone there thinks that being allied with us is necessary. It is. But please don’t give them any reason to doubt our family. Don’t give them a reason to doubt humanity.
“The members of the Council are Derek, Richard, and Etta. Derek is the one most at ease around us, and his family reflects his attitude. He’s the youngest on the Council, has the dark-blonde hair. Richard is bulkier and a little shorter than Derek. He’s the oldest, but you can’t tell except that he has white hair. Etta’s the only woman on the council. Watch out for her. She’s the one who will probably push you the furthest during your testing; she put me through the ringer when I was your age.”
“Is she the one who doesn’t think we should be allies?” I asked.
“No, no one on the council has that opinion, right now. But Etta will change her mind about us if she ever doubts our ability to hold up our end. Her family has always been like that, from what my father said. So, she pushes us further to see what it will take for us to break, to find our limit so to speak. It’s actually very wise of her, but she isn’t very nice about it.” He looked at me, ”Della, you’ll have a tougher time since they’ll sense that you’re a little different. Just be prepared. That goes for both of you, actually. This is just so unusual, we all need to stay on our toes.”
“What else do we need to know? What happens during the testing?” I felt so unprepared. I was so unprepared.
“I can really only tell you about my own experience, but they started off with having me complete some tasks. Lift a rock, Shield an attack, that type of thing. Gabby’s testing was similar, though her tasks were different. And remember, this is supposed to test you. They want to find your breaking point. That means it will be hard. Don’t get upset with yourself if you can’t complete something. I’m pretty sure they’re watching your reactions to failure just as much as everything else. After I was pretty worn out from that, they started asking me questions. Some didn’t seem all that relevant, and others seemed way too personal. I think they were just getting a feel for my reactions.”
I raised my hand to ask a question. “Why is this necessary, again? Cash said that they don’t actually have any say in the families.”
“It’s a sign of good faith. Shows that we respect them, and include them in important matters and consider their opinions. It’s really a rite of passage for our family, too. Some families do bat mitzvahs, some do quinceaneras, and we do this,” Connor explained.
“This seems pretty one sided, to me. Why don’t we get to test them?”
Connor smiled, “We do. It just doesn’t happen all that often. We tested Derek about ten years ago. My father was in charge then, but we had a representative from any family that was interested in attending. They asked him to do something to show his friendship, and commitment, to preserving life here. To prove that he would never turn Clade.”
“What did he do?”
“Oh, it was pretty radical. He swore an oath of allegiance to the family. So even if the Elfennol break their ties with us, he won’t. Neither will his family, since he’s the head of it. If our ties with the Elfennol are broken, Derek’s family would have to leave to stand by his oath. Or at least the ones who couldn’t isert themselves into another family would have to. Some people think that because there’s no real threat of our alliance being dissolved, Derek just got out of having to do any work. My dad made the call, though, and he gave Derek his approval.” It was clear that Connor agreed with that decision.
“How long does it take to get there?” I asked, sure it would take half a day.
“Only about an hour. You’ll be too tired after the testing is done for the travel home, so we’ll be staying the night. I don’t suggest packing anything since it will be a pain to travel with; they’ll have everything you need there. Yes, even toothbrushes, Cash.”
“Is Granddad going with us?” Cash asked.
“No, he has a friend driving him out there on his boat this evening. We thought it would be best to have someone there early to get a feel for the situation,” my uncle responded, much to my relief. It would have been very difficult to avoid Toby while swimming right next to him for an hour.
“Why can’t we take a boat?”
“For a few reasons: one, it’s tradition; two, this is something that you guys need to learn how to do; three, I had to swim out there, and I’ll be darned if you guys get to skip it.”
We all seemed to realize we were still in the kitchen at the same time, and without speaking we moved ourselves to the living room to sit down and talk everything out in more comfort. Uncle Connor went over more of our abilities, told us more about what Luke had been telling us earlier, an
d even did a little demonstration with an energy dagger. He refused to let us practice, however, saying that it wasn’t something we would need the next day. We didn’t, apparently, need combat training until we’d been deemed worthy. If only the Clade had gotten that message the night before.
After a couple hours of talking, right at dusk, a clumsy thumping came down the stairs. All three of us were still in attack mode, and in an awesome display of teamwork I Shielded the three of us; Cash Bent the closest window curtain to tangle the assailant, causing a quick tumble down the rest of the stairs; and Uncle Connor had about four of his energy daggers floating just beneath his fingertips.
“Ow, it’s me. It’s just me!” came Dove’s voice from underneath the tangle of curtain.
We had, ahem, forgotten that he was still upstairs sleeping it off.
Cash was first to reach him, offering a hand to help him up. “Sorry about that, man. I guess we’re a little jumpy.”
“No kidding. What time is it?” Dove asked, taking our attack completely in stride.
“Right after seven o’clock.”
“Crap. Della, you must have had some internal bleeding I didn’t notice. I usually don’t need to rest this long after a healing.” He yawned and scratched his head, making me notice that he had the worst case of bed head I’d ever seen. His hair was sticking up, and I mean straight up, on one side, and I found it adorable. Of course, I was immediately annoyed with myself for thinking that.
Aunt Ellis came out to see what the commotion was, shaking her head when she found out what had happened. “Dove, would you like something to eat? Your mother left some protein bars here for you and we have some steaks in the fridge that I’m sure Connor wouldn’t mind grilling up tonight.”
“That would be great, thanks Mrs. Neale. Do you know where she put my things? I really need to brush my teeth and take a shower.”
After Dove had finished washing up we sat down to a dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli, and filled him in on what was going on. After giving me a few worried glances, and asking many of the same questions Cask and I had asked earlier that day, he told my aunt and uncle that he would fill in everyone else in the area who didn’t already know, and keep an eye out for anything strange while we were away. Before he left, I gave him the keys to Luke’s truck to return, since Dove had left his car at the beach the night before, and I wouldn’t have a chance to return the truck on the morning.
