by Jess Bowen
“Wow,” Cynthia breathed. “I mean, everyone knows about the prophecy of all of you being born, but I didn’t know there was more to it, or about this Irena. I’ve never even heard of her.”
Everyone had unconsciously leaned forward while Phoebe was talking, and they now settled back into their seats.
“I suppose Cassius has his reasons for keeping it to himself, and I’m sure he has others for telling Phoebe now,” Evan said, shrugging his shoulders.
“I think he wants Ethan, Dorian, and me to go after it, you know, when we’re ready,” she said.
Jared cleared his throat loudly. “I think you mean all of us. Did we not just say we’re together in this?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“We’re with you,” Evan said as he looked directly at Phoebe, “through everything.” She felt a strange warmth and appreciation at his words, his commitment.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Phoebe blushed; she could not imagine having better friends than the ones sitting here with her now. She couldn’t even honestly say if her other friends would have done the same. She couldn’t imagine them here. Although to be fair, she never would have imagined herself here either. Finally, it seemed, she was able to ask the question that had been bugging her all day.
“What’s it like, you know, out there?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Everyone sobered immediately, even Evan. He was the first to speak. “We don’t know for sure. We’ve never been out of our safe places.”
“I thought you all had to travel here?” Confusion passed over Ethan’s face, and he pulled his eyebrows together.
Jared spoke up. “We did, but there are underground passageways that are partially protected. It’s not completely safe, but safer than traveling across open country.”
Lucy spoke next. “It’s bad, though, and it’s dark all the time with fires burning everywhere. All manner of foul creatures run about preying on whoever or whatever they can find. That’s what my brother told me before he, you know, died.”
Ethan awkwardly reached over and patted her shoulder twice before his hand dropped uselessly on the couch. Lucy had a small smile of appreciation at his gesture.
Phoebe shuddered as a cold chill ran down her spine. She wanted to get this training done as soon as she could. She couldn’t stand waiting around while more people got hurt. Evan seemed to read her mind.
“We’ll be ready soon enough. Petrozan and Esmeralda’s days are almost over.”
Phoebe nodded as sadness coursed through her, and once again, it began to rain outside. Phoebe took Bree out of her pocket and put him and Sapphire on the floor and watched as the two began to play.
“Why does it keep raining?” Cynthia asked, looking out the windows at the trails of water that formed on the glass panes.
“Sorry about that,” Phoebe said, looking up from the two companions. “I don’t mean to. It just sort of happens.”
“You mean you’re doing that?” Evan said in disbelief. His eyes widened in surprise.
“That’s what Dorian said.”
“Wow, I wish my powers would do something interesting,” Ethan said gloomily. Lucy reached over and placed her hand on his arm sympathetically. Phoebe wanted to kick Ethan. He didn’t even seem to notice Lucy’s effort to make him feel better.
“They did, at orientation. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who can produce a shield like that. I mean aside from Dorian, of course,” Jared said encouragingly.
Ethan smiled. “Wow, really?” Jared nodded his head in confirmation.
Ethan perked up slightly after that, and Shade climbed down from his lap to join the other animals on the floor. Phoebe closed her eyes and sat back against the couch she shared with Evan, wondering what was going to happen next. At the moment, she was too tired to care.
13. Jade
Getting dressed had never before required Ethan to concentrate so much. It wasn’t the clothes exactly—pants and a shirt weren’t that difficult—it was trying to put them on correctly while completely and totally exhausted that was proving a challenge. Ethan had barely slept at all. Not from anxiety or probing thoughts, as would be expected, but from dreaming. He had spent the entire night in the garden. He had no idea why he was there, or why the woman with the shining blond hair never looked at him or spoke or even acknowledged his presence. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t simply ask her. Just because her head was pointed in the opposite direction didn’t mean she was deaf.
Still, he spent most of the night growing increasingly impatient as the woman on the other side of the bench ignored him. Had this been an ordinary dream, he was sure he would not have been so exhausted. But he had a distinct feeling that this garden lay somewhere between being awake and asleep, and therefore, he received no rest while he was there.
As the long hours of the early morning passed, the light started streaming in through the trees in the garden. He looked away for just a second, and the blond woman was gone. A twinkling, musical laughter took her place. Ethan searched and searched for the source of the laughter. He had to find this woman. But after hours of searching, he found nothing, and he woke feeling like he had, indeed, been awake all night long.
Ethan was vaguely aware that someone was knocking on the bathroom door. He couldn’t remember how long he had been in there, but from the impatient knocking, he was sure it had been a while.
“What are you doing in there? Counting soap bubbles?” Ethan knew it had to be Evan. Only he would say something so off the wall.
“I’ll be out in a minute!” Ethan called sleepily. He couldn’t even hide the half-alive sound of his voice.
He looked in the mirror again to see that his shirt was on inside out. He sighed. He was half tempted to leave it like that. Grudgingly, he pulled the shirt off and fixed it before heading out of the washroom. “All yours,” he muttered.
Evan huffed jokingly. “I was about to send in a search and rescue team!” He laughed and then ducked behind the door.
Ethan had aimed a punch at him, but even if it would have made contact, it wouldn’t have hurt. He was too tired to put any effort behind it. He went and sat on his bed to eat breakfast. There was the usual bowl of glume and goblet of seemingly ordinary water, but there was also a vile of some purple liquid.
“What’s that?” Ethan asked Jared, indicating the tiny bottle.
“Oh, that’s just a refreshing solution. I mentioned to one of the gnomes that you hadn’t slept well, and they brought it up. It gives you the energy you need to get through the day. You shouldn’t get used to it, though; it only works for so long before you have to sleep for real.”
“How did you know I didn’t sleep well?” Ethan asked, hoping he hadn’t done anything embarrassing in his half-asleep, half-awake state.
“Because you kept waking Evan and me up, tossing and turning, mumbling all night. Evan was about ready to throw you in the hallway.” Jared laughed. Ethan could see Evan doing that. “Anyway, we both had to have some too. This’ll really wake you up.”
Ethan could see that. Jared hadn’t stopped moving since he’d entered the room. Ethan didn’t think his roommate’s bed sheets could get much straighter, but Jared kept smoothing them out. Then he would turn and dust off his bedside table, pace across the floor a few times before spotting another invisible wrinkle in his blankets, and start the whole process again. Ethan picked up the little vile and looked it over. If he had to choose between obsessive compulsive disorder and barely being able to think, he would take super-straightened sheets. He uncorked the bottle and swallowed the liquid inside in one gulp.
The second he swallowed, he felt instantly alert. His eyes snapped all the way open; the tired weight of his arms and legs lifted, and he was ready to run a marathon. Wow. Good stuff, he thought. Ethan ate his breakfast at top speed, not even bothering to taste it. He and Jared then neatened everything in the bedroom and sitting room by the time Evan made it out of the bathroom.
Evan shook his
head in amusement and mock disappointment. “You guys have unlimited energy and you decide to start cleaning?” He watched in horror for a second longer before disappearing into the bedroom.
Once he was out of the room, Jared and Ethan exchanged a look of disgust. Why were they cleaning every inch of their room? Weren’t there better things to do with unlimited energy? They both dropped what they were holding and silently made their way out into the hallway to wait for the girls as Evan followed behind laughing. Ethan could feel Shade getting impatient and hurried to release him. If whatever he took was affecting Shade, he probably needed to get out and run. Ethan was right; Shade ran up and down the hallway, closely tailed by Sadi and Bree, for twenty minutes and still showed no signs of slowing as the girls came out of their room.
“Finally!” Evan exclaimed when Phoebe opened the door. “We’re going to be late!”
He looked like he was an overexcited two-year-old, moving around so quickly and jerkily. Cynthia looked at him with concern.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me!”
“Oh, I didn’t know this was normal behavior.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You, all three of you, look like…half-mad jumping beans or something!”
Ethan laughed; he had just noticed he was rather twitchy.
“Refreshing solution,” Jared explained.
“Oh,” Cynthia said, understanding at once.
Ethan looked at a clock in the hall. Evan was right. They only had ten minutes to make their way through the Annexus and down to training. They were going to be late. Even if they knew where they were going, it would take at least fifteen minutes to get down there.
The girls released their companions. “Oh, look!” Phoebe exclaimed. “Her horn is already starting to poke through!”
Everyone gathered around Sapphire, all worries about time forgotten, as they looked at the tiny piece of exposed horn. Sapphire realized she was being examined and started preening as much as she could while confined to Phoebe’s arms. As the other companions saw that Sapphire was being admired, they all started parading around for their own attention. Ten minutes passed before someone remembered they actually had to be somewhere.
“Oh no, now we’re really going to be late,” Cynthia groaned, looking up at the clock.
Sure enough, the clock was showing exactly nine o’clock. Quickly, the six trainees gathered up the companions and followed their directions. Twenty minutes later they made it to the doors of the training arena where Dorian stood waiting and looking amused.
“What’s so funny?” Phoebe asked suspiciously.
“You’re late,” he replied.
Phoebe raised her eyebrow. She was still the only one who really felt comfortable talking to Dorian. “And since when is that amusing?”
He dismissed her question. “You should probably get inside before they break off into groups.”
Phoebe still glared at him suspiciously, but he had a point. They were late enough as it was. Ethan was in front, so he pulled open the door and held it. Evan, Jared, and Cynthia entered first. Dorian guided Phoebe in by her arm—she still looked like she was trying to figure out what he found funny—and Lucy entered beside Ethan. Just as at orientation, the students sat on the tiered seats while a group of instructors stood in the middle of the floor. No elves today. Clearly these would be their Elements instructors. A woman had been addressing the students. She stood between the stands and the group of instructors.
As the door snapped shut behind Ethan, the woman turned in that direction and her eyes narrowed. Ethan immediately knew what Dorian had found so funny. This woman was not going to be happy at all about them being late. She was older, maybe forty-looking in non-magic years. She had extremely short black hair, and her eyes were a peculiar pale green color. Dorian was practically shaking with silent laughter, and Phoebe had her lips pursed and her nose wrinkled while she looked at him.
As the woman watched them approach, her foot began to tap impatiently. Finally they made it to the others—time seemed to pass much more slowly when this woman glared—and settled onto the tiers. Evan, Jared, and Cynthia climbed to the topmost tier so they could be out of sight. Dorian and Phoebe took the next one, which left Lucy and Ethan in plain sight. The woman’s eyes narrowed and zeroed in on them. Lucy cringed and leaned into Ethan. Shade settled into his pocket, not a trace of hyperactivity left in him.
“Well,” the woman growled. “Nice of you to find the time in your busy schedules to show up.”
Lucy was now out of sight, pressed against Ethan’s side. That left only him for her to glare at. He said nothing.
“This training may not be required, but if you are going to attend, you do not come and go as you please. I expect you have a good excuse?”
He didn’t, so he lied, partially. “Well, we, uh, got lost, and it took us a while to find our way down.” They did get lost once, but only for a minute.
The tapping foot continued. “Are your companions’ memories defective?”
Shade shifted in Ethan’s pocket. “No,” he said, glaring back now.
“Are they incompetent?” She took a few steps toward them. Lucy couldn’t hide anymore.
“No,” Ethan replied through his teeth.
Lucy took his hand as if to calm him down; however, he was sure part of the reason was so she could bury herself farther into his side.
“Then I do not believe you are telling me the truth. Perhaps your friends are too much of a…distraction.” She nodded pointedly at Lucy who was practically fused to Ethan’s side under this mad woman’s glare. “I’m sure we could arrange different sleeping quarters if it will get you here on time. Perhaps different training schedules as well.”
“Enough, Jade, you have made your point,” Dorian said in a commanding voice.
Her eyes flashed up to Dorian, but apparently she would not question his authority. She glared for a few moments longer before turning and striding back to her original position at the front of the floor.
“You could’ve stopped her, and you just let her stand there and yell at us?” Phoebe whispered quietly.
“Well, you were late,” Dorian replied, sounding amused again.
Ethan turned to glare at Dorian just as Phoebe elbowed him in the side. She looked like she put a lot of effort into it, but he didn’t even flinch as she made contact. Instead he smiled. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“You just wait until I get done with combat training,” Phoebe warned and Dorian chuckled.
“Is that a threat?”
“Yes, it is.”
Dorian laughed quietly. Phoebe and Dorian seemed so at ease around one another. Nobody else felt remotely comfortable talking to Dorian about anything. Yet Phoebe looked as relaxed being with him as she would anybody else, maybe too much so.
Jade cleared her throat. “Now, as I was saying before, my name is Jade, and I will be one of the instructors for this session. I teach First Order, and over here,” she turned to indicate two men standing a little off to the side, “are Drake and Dorn. Drake teaches Second Order, and Dorn teaches Third Order. For those of you who do not know, the rings on your wrist determine the Order you are in. One ring for First Order, two rings for Second Order, and three rings for Third Order. Now, if you will all please split up and join the proper instructor.”
There was a flurry of movement as everyone stepped down off of the tiers and went to gather around their instructor. Lucy extricated herself from Ethan’s ribs.
“Why do we get stuck with the grouchy one?” Evan asked, eyeing Drake and Dorn who were warmly welcoming their students.
“A bit of luck, I suppose,” Ethan answered sarcastically.
“We’d best get a move on before we get told off again,” Jared said, stepping off the bottom tier.
They all walked over to join Jade, who was standing at the far side of the room. There were about ten others standing
with her; among them was Kali. As they approached, Ethan could hear Phoebe and Cynthia groan audibly. Amusingly, Kali’s two clones had been in Third Order, and she looked slightly diminished standing there by herself.
A pale boy in front looked much younger than nineteen and was practically shaking from head to foot. Ethan watched him curiously, wondering what could make him so scared. He also realized that Lucy’s hand was still in his. She was so quiet he would have forgotten she was there if it hadn’t been for the coolness of her touch. He wasn’t sure if it was okay, but she didn’t protest, so he left his hand where it was.
“Now, pay attention. You are all First Order, but do not think that makes you better than the others. We are here for the same reason.” She looked around solemnly at them all. “By show of hands, how many represent the Earth Element?” Ethan raised his hand as did Jared and two others. “Good, good. Are there any representing the Fire Element?” Cynthia raised her hand, along with Kali; they glared at each other for a moment. “Two in one order, that is indeed rare. Now, Water Element?” Phoebe, Evan, and four others raised their hands. “Six, very nice, and that would leave four of you for Wind Element?” Jade said, doing a quick head count. Those who had not raised their hands, including Lucy, nodded.
“Very well. Although you may represent separate Elements, you will find that the ways of conjuring and controlling your powers are all very similar. Some of you may be able to control yours slightly now, but with the training you will receive with me, you will find it much easier to do so. Now, this being the Season of the Earth Element, those of you with Earth powers will find them most easily manageable during this time.”
Ethan listened intently, wanting to be sure not to miss anything that would show him how to use his power. He was distracted by Kali, who kept glancing over her shoulder and flipping her hair. Ethan watched to see what she kept looking at and saw Dorian still standing with Phoebe to his left. He rolled his eyes. He could already tell Kali was going to test everyone’s patience. Phoebe was glaring a hole into her head.
