“Not a problem. Demon equals Bre heading in the opposite direction as quickly as possible,” I said.
We arrived at the pull-off for the hike to the river and parked the car. We gathered our lunch and water, then put it in a backpack that Bryce carried. As we began the walk, I tried to concentrate on the animals around me and speak to them. A cute little rabbit was just off the path and I spoke to it. A little further down the trail, I spotted a deer and we had a short conversation. It was amazing that I was able to do that. I finally felt hope again. How could I be in such a dark place when I had light all around me? I sent a little message in my mind to Callie. I love you, Callie. I am so sorry you died because of me. I wish you were here to experience this with me. I am finally able to start enjoying life again. I know you would want that for me. You always wanted good things for me. I also wish you could meet my new friends. First of all, they are hot! Secondly, they are really nice and are helping me with my crazy. You would love them and how they take care of me. I miss you so much it hurts, but I will do my best to make you proud and live the life you should have had.
“Bre, are you okay?” Mason asked.
“Yes, I was just thinking of Callie and how she would love this. You guys would have loved her and she would have loved you. I just miss her,” I responded.
Mason slowed down to walk beside me, “I’m so sorry about your friend.”
“Thank you. Being around you guys these last few days has made me feel so much better. I cut myself off from everyone after she died and being around you guys has made me see that I can’t live like that anymore. You guys make me happy. The other day was the first time I had laughed in months. I feel better when I am with you, lighter,” I said.
Bryce also slowed down to walk beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. “Well, you know I love having you around. You are my sole source of entertainment now. You are the only one who can douse Harrison with water and not get hit. You are also the only one that Chase has let near him except for us, and we were kids when we became friends. Speaking of which, I saw him stand in front of you when you called Harrison ‘Harry’. Seems he has come around.”
“We spoke right before dinner last night and we now understand each other. He is a great guy with a big heart underneath all of that grouchiness,” I said.
Bryce busted out laughing, “By the way, I love your nickname for him. Oscar the Grouchy Elemental! Ingenious!” We continued to talk as we made our way to the river. When we finally arrived, we rested and took a drink of water. I was excited to work with Mason. I hadn’t had much time with him these past couple of days. Wow, to think it had only been a few days since I met the guys and now I couldn’t imagine my life without them. I just hoped I never had to.
After resting a little while, Mason walked up to me and held his hand out for me to take. “Let’s get started, pretty girl.”
Blushing, I took his hand and walked over to the river with him. His hand felt nice in mine. I looked up at him and saw him smiling down at me. I couldn’t help but smile back, and his ice-blue eyes darkened a little when he looked at me. He ran the other hand through his hair and released my hand. “Let’s get started. Remember when you moved the water in the glass the other day? Well, this will be the same except on a much bigger scale.” He looked at the river and his eyes started to glow blue. The river water lifted up and swirled in a tornado form about fifty feet wide. It moved faster and faster until it looked like it could take out a tree and anything else that got in its way. He then slowed it down and eased it back into the river where it came from.
“Wow! Mason, that was amazing. How can you control that much water?” I asked.
“It doesn’t make a difference how much there is. It’s about willing it to do what you want. It feels the same when I control ten ounces of water or 1,000 gallons,” Mason replied. I thought about that for a minute.
“I guess I am thinking about it wrong. I think that handling a lot of water would be heavy, whereas moving a glass of water would be light, so it would be easier,” I said.
“You can’t think about it like that. You are not actually lifting the water with your body, you are doing it with your mind. Heavy or light doesn’t make a difference when it is mental. You made a tree’s branches longer to entrap those guys and made a small plant grow. Did you use more energy for the tree?” he asked.
“No, I guess I didn’t. I never would have thought about it like that. Thank you, Mason. I’ll see what I can do,” I said nervously. “We probably should have brought some towels just in case.” Mason and Bryce both chuckled at my remark. “I’m actually serious. Well, here goes nothing.” I walked over to the river, trying to feel its energy. I didn’t feel anything, but continued to concentrate on it. Nothing. “The water doesn’t feel like the plants and animals do. I can’t feel the energy or essence of the water, because it is not alive like they are,” I said, frustrated.
Mason walked over to me and said, “Close your eyes. Concentrate on the trees and plants around you. Feel the energy they give off. Let it surround you.” I did. “Now, find the energy of the animals around us, feel the energy they give off. Air and water are not alive like plants and animals, but they give life. They are the essence of life, so they have an energy. Now, concentrate on everything around you. Do you feel the air, trees, plants, animals, water?”
I tried to block everything out except his voice. He was so close to me that I could feel his breath on my ear. Tingles ran down my arm and I swayed into him and his hypnotic voice. Concentrate, Bre! I steeled myself to focus on the task and not how close he was. Finally, I started to feel everything around me. I could feel the large oak to my right and the pine tree behind me; the oak felt old and weathered and the pine felt new and fresh. I expanded to areas beyond them and felt a bird, a blue jay, I think, with her four hungry babies. There was a chipmunk scurrying around a few yards away. I then concentrated on the area where the water should be and it was like a void. I didn’t feel anything from it. I tried to relax and think about what Mason said about it being life-giving. I thought about how the water, the trees and plants, the air, and the earth itself were all connected. Slowly, I started to feel something in the river; it felt like light, flowing clouds of sparkles. Crazy, I know, but that was apparently how water felt to me. It felt so light, like cotton candy, and I could pick it all up with one hand. Mason gasped beside me and Bryce said, “Holy shit, Bre!” I opened my eyes to see that the entire river as far as the eye could see had been lifted up into the air. There were fish flopping around on the empty riverbed below and I began to panic.
“Relax. It’s okay. Close your eyes again and relax. Continue to feel the connection to the water and start to lower it back down. You can do this, just breathe,” Mason instructed. I tried to relax, but I was worried about the fish. I didn’t want them to die. Okay, I can do this. I thought about the sparkly cotton candy water and raised my hand toward it. I thought about it lowering back into the riverbed slowly. I thought about how light it was and how I wanted to softly lower it back down. I had never concentrated so hard in my life. “You did it!” I heard Mason shout. I opened my eyes to see the river back to the way it was. Mason turned to me and hugged me tight. “You did great! I can’t believe you lifted the entire river into the air! I have never seen anything like it. You are amazing, Bre!”
“Thank you, but I thought you said that it didn’t matter how much there was, that it was a mind thing?” I asked.
“Yes, well, there are limits to what most Elementals can do, but not you apparently,” he said.
“Well, that doesn’t scare the shit out of me at all, Mason,” I said sarcastically. “You told me I could lift any amount of water I wanted to and I did. Now you tell me that it’s not normal to be able to do that.”
“Not really. Most Water Elementals can control large amounts of water, but not an entire river. This river is at least fifty yards wide and over one hundred miles long. I have no idea how much of it you pick
ed up, but it was as far as I could see,” Mason replied excitedly.
“Bre, it doesn’t matter how much you lifted, you controlled it, and that is huge progress. You may be more powerful that any Elemental we have ever met, but you are figuring all of this out very quickly. You can do this,” Bryce said encouragingly.
“But I don’t want to be the most powerful Elemental. I can barely make it through a day without something crazy happening. Now that I know what I can do and how powerful I am, I know my crazy will shoot through the roof!” I said.
“Don’t worry. We will be here with you to help you. You are not alone in this. We will do everything we can to figure out why you are so powerful and how you can possess all five gifts. You are not getting rid of us,” Mason said, looking at me with the most hopeful ice-blue eyes. I couldn’t help but believe him when he looked at me that way.
Bryce walked up and put his arm around my shoulders. “Yep, you are stuck with us. We need someone around to keep Chase in line!” We sat down to eat lunch and relaxed a little. I still needed to train with Bryce and I was nervous.
“So Bryce, what are we going to work on? Please don’t tell me that I will be growing trees bigger. I’m afraid I might make it reach a mile in the air and take out a plane!” I kind of jokingly said.
“Wouldn’t that be crazy? You are flying in a plane and look out the window to see a tree as you go by. Ha! I would love to see peoples’ reactions to that!” Bryce said while laughing.
“I’m serious. It scares me that I might hurt someone, specifically one of you. I already lost my best friend. I can’t lose you guys,” I said solemnly.
“Don’t worry. We are tough and we will teach you to control your gifts. Just trust us,” Mason said. I was still worried that I would hurt or even kill one of them, but the best way to avoid that was to train. I had to do this.
Chapter 9
“Okay Bre, let’s do this!” Bryce said and my stomach rolled. I shouldn’t have eaten, because now it was sitting in my stomach like a rock. “I thought we could work on moving boulders; they are great for knocking out demons.”
“Really? You want me to move boulders? I never thought I would hear that sentence in my lifetime, much less have it not be a joke,” I said. Bryce walked over to me and pointed out a large rock near the river.
“I know you keep hearing us say ‘concentrate’, but that is exactly what you need to do. All gifts are controlled by you and your mind. A boulder is of the earth and can be controlled just like a tree or the entire river you just picked up,” Bryce said.
“Ha ha!” I replied.
“Sorry, I am still shocked by how powerful you are. I want you to concentrate on the rock I pointed out and lift it into the air just like the water. But try not to move the entire mountain if you can,” Bryce joked.
Sadly, it really wasn’t a joke to me. I was nervous again and willed myself to relax. After a few deep breaths, I looked at the rock he wanted me to move and tried to feel its energy. It felt dense, but light. I lifted my hand toward it and lifted it up. The rock started to shake a little and I wavered. Concentrate! It is just like the water, light like cotton candy. The rock stopped shaking and started moving upwards. I lifted it about twenty feet and it hovered there. I made a circular motion with my hand and it spun in a circle.
“Look, I can spin it around!” I said as I turned to the guys and smiled. I forgot about controlling it and heard a loud crash. While I was gloating about my control over the rock, I forgot about actually controlling it. “Oops.” They both smiled at me and shook their heads.
“What are we going to do with you?” Bryce asked while laughing at me yet again. “That was great. Next time, we will work with the land and see what damage you can cause.”
Bryce and Mason spoke quietly while I looked out over the trees and saw the majestic mountains in the background. I thought about how wondrous the earth was and how I was able to connect with it. I was in awe of the beauty around me and I felt more connected than ever. A thought came to mind and I wondered if I could do it. I could connect with several of the elements at once, so why shouldn’t I be able to control more than one at a time? I thought back to Mason creating that heart with the water from the glass and I wondered if I could do it, too. I lifted some of the water from the river, not the entire river this time, and created half of a heart shape. Then, I motioned to the nearby oak branches to create the other half. Together, they formed a perfect heart shape. It made me smile. Now I just need a flaming arrow through the middle.
“How are you doing that?” Mason asked.
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Bryce said.
I remembered to continue controlling the elements and motioned for them to return to where they came from. I turned back to the guys and asked, “What shouldn’t be possible?”
“No Bonded Elemental with more than one gift can use more than one at the same time,” Bryce replied.
“Why not? I can feel all of them at once, so why can’t I use all of them at once?” I questioned. Bryce and Chase looked at each other, contemplating my statement. Before they could form a response, a loud crash sounded behind us.
“Demon!” Mason yelled.
“What?!” I questioned as I looked toward the crash. Standing there staring at us with glowing red eyes was my worst nightmare. It was a lizard-looking being with two arms and two legs, just like a human, but that was the end of the similarities. His entire body was covered in dark brown reptile-like skin and his hands and feet were webbed. His hands also had long claws that looked razor-sharp. He was at least six-and-a-half feet tall and had teeth like a piranha. It hissed at us and started toward me. Oh, hell no! I almost get kidnapped, TWICE, I get in a head-on collision that was intentional, and now a freakin’ lizard man is trying to kill me? No freakin’ way!
Bryce and Mason both ran to me and stood in front of me. “Stay behind us. We will take care of it. They both pulled out long daggers that had been strapped to their legs and started circling the lizard guy. He slashed out at them with his claws and continued to hiss. There was drool coming from the corner of his mouth and it was disgusting. Bryce stepped toward him with his dagger held out and tried to slice his chest while Mason approached him from behind. The lizard man knocked the dagger out of Bryce’s hand while Mason got a slash in across the demon’s back. It howled in pain, which gave Bryce time to recover his dagger. Again, Bryce and Mason circled the demon, waiting for the right moment to strike. The demon became impatient and lunged at Mason. It barreled toward him with its claws out. Mason created a water tornado which threw the demon into the nearest tree. Immediately, Bryce had the tree wrap its branches around it and tighten. It was locked in for only a few seconds before it broke free and charged Bryce. It backhanded him across the face and the force of it threw him several feet away, knocking him out. Mason stepped in behind the lizard guy and sliced him across the back again. Lizard guy flinched, but Mason must not have sliced deep enough, because it didn’t slow down. It turned and picked Mason up by his neck, throwing him into a tree and knocking him out. Lizard man turned his flaming red eyes toward me and hissed, “He wasss right, you are more than a normal Elemental. You will be the tassstiest treat I have ever had. I can’t wait to sssink my teeth into you before I kill you ssslowly.”
I froze in shock. This was a real demon and it was talking about eating and killing me. When the guys spoke about demons, I never thought I would actually see one in person. My entire body locked up and I couldn’t move. I was frozen in fear as it came near me and raised its clawed hand to strike me. I cowered in fear and covered my face with my arms while turning away from it, waiting for the death blow. All of this happened in seconds, but it felt like hours. Just as his clawed hand was about to swipe at my face, a power like I have never felt before filled me and something exploded out of me. I looked up to see what appeared to be a curved white force field of light pulse out of my entire body, throwing lizard man away from me. I looked at where he hit the g
round and saw Bryce and Mason recovering. The demon recovered too quickly for my liking and stalked toward me. The entire front of his body, including his face, looked like it was melting. When it was a few feet from me, Bryce jumped on its back and sliced clean through its neck. As Bryce landed on the ground, the demon burst into a pile of ash.
I sunk to the ground in a rush of tears. Bryce and Mason ran over to me, kneeling down to see my face. “Are you hurt?” Bryce asked. “Did he cut you anywhere?”
“No,” I said, sobbing. “He never touched me.”
“Mason, gather everything up and let’s get her home,” Bryce commanded.
We walked back to the car in silence, because I wasn’t saying much. They continued to ask if I was okay and if I was hurt in any way. I kept telling them I was fine, but they kept asking. I didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. We finally made it back to the car and began the drive home. Mason called Harrison to inform him of what happened. They wanted to have a family meeting to discuss the events and to try to figure out what was going on. Someone was trying to kidnap or kill me and I had no idea why. Exhausted from the training and from the attack, I laid down in the back seat and fell asleep.
Chapter 10
I woke up in a bed I had never seen before. I was in a huge, black four-poster bed with a fluffy white down comforter. I looked around the room and saw that it was neat with minimal furniture. In addition to the bed, there was a dresser and a chair, but nothing else in the room. Everything was black and white; the walls and a rug covering the dark hardwood floor were white, while the dresser and chair were black. There was a framed black and white abstract painting above the bed that had a small splash of red. The red was the only color in the entire room. I looked for the bathroom, because I was about to pop. After finding it and relieving myself, I quietly walked out of the bedroom and found a long hallway with several doors on each side. To my right looked to be the balcony from the entryway, so I headed that direction. As I descended the stairs into the massive foyer, I heard the guys talking.
Becoming Elemental Page 6
