Discovering Aether

by Emily James Taylor

  It’s dark and it takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust. It looks like there are shelves full of cleaning supplies along with a couple of beds set up in the middle. On the opposite wall is a door and Nolan heads straight for it. I follow him over, and go inside. It looks like the maids have stairs that help them move between floors so they guests won’t have to see them. With Nolan and Kevin flanking me, we head down them.

  At the bottom of the stairs, there’s a door that appears to lead outside. I move to push it open, but Kevin lays a staying hand on my arm.

  “We have to be quick, Adi,” he instructs me in hushed tones. “If we get split up, head towards Times Square. That’s where we’ll meet up.” He pulls me into him and kisses my forehead. “If you have to use your powers, do it. Don’t worry about Nolan or me, just get out of here.”

  Yeah, right. But I don’t plan on telling them that, so I nod my head in agreement. I’m not going to leave them here and they’ll just have to accept that. Kevin opens the door and looks around. He walks out cautiously, signalling for me to wait. I look back at Nolan, who winks at me and motions for me to go with his hands. I open the door and burst into a sprint heading straight for Kevin at the end of the street.

  Kevin slides his arm around my waist and I glance over my shoulder at the door I just left. Nolan’s broad steps eat the pavement as he runs towards us. Nolan catches up and grabs me in a hug, a look of relief on his face. I guess nobody noticed we left. Just as I get that thought out, a sudden gust of wind picks us up and hurls us back against the safe house. Shit, I think I just jinxed us. An officer holds his palms out, sending waves of wind in our direction, keeping our bodies trapped against the bricks.

  I’m pinned next to Nolan, slightly facing him, I can barely see Kevin on his other side. Kevin’s hand shoots out but it quickly disappears as it slams back against the wall. The echo of bricks cracking and falling to the cement sidewalk fills the silent street. Kevin grunts in pain as the vibration from his hands hitting the wall rock through me. God, he must have broken bones in his hand from that.

  Trying to look around, I find I can’t move my head. My eyes darts up and down the street trying to figure out just how much shit we’re in. Men in uniforms surround us, the same men who were stationed around the party tonight. Some, I can only see in my peripheral vision, but there are three right in front of us, including the one holding us here.

  “Look who decided to leave without telling their parents goodbye,” Thomas’s smug voice comes from the dark street. “I taught you better manners Nolan, I’m extremely disappointed.” Nolan’s creepy father steps into the space between the guards and us against the building. He steps up to Nolan and punches him in the side of his face. Nolan’s head bounces against the brick wall behind him, hard, leaving an indentation. If we were mortal, I don’t think Nolan would have survived that hit. Blood drips from a gash in the back of his head.

  “How dare you try to keep her away from us? She could help us ensure our future,” Thomas growls out with such vehemence, it takes me by surprise.

  Nolan spits, a glob of blood lands at Thomas’ feet, nearly maring his perfect shoes. Nolan’s wound is closing fast, it’s no longer dripping blood on his shirt.

  “Lock her partners up,” Thomas instructs the five guards standing around us. “They were trying to bring her over to Osiris. We can try to find her other connections, hopefully they will not be traitors as well.” Two of the guards pull out odd looking handcuffs. They have some type of gloves attaches to the metal rings. Do these gloves stop us from being able to manipulate our elements?

  My eyes scan the guards again. The one holding us to the wall with his Air element sways, just a little but I caught it. Examining him closely, I notice the beads of perspiration on his brow. It gives me an idea.

  “Nolan,” I whisper as lightly as I can. Since I’m right next to him, Nolan hears me but the guards don’t. I try to tip my chin at the guard holding us. It’s still hard, but not impossible. Nolan’s eyes narrow and he nods almost imperceptibly.

  Nolan’s body jerks, his hand extending straight out. A small vibration flows through the ground, growing stronger with each passing second. The earth splits open right behind Thomas. A stream of water shoots from Kevin’s position on Nolan’s other side. It hits the guard holding us square in the chest. He rocks on his feet, loosing his balance. The water pulses, hitting him again and he falls back, tumbling into the crack in the ground. His hold on us is lost and we drop to our feet.

  Kevin adjusts his aim, pointing his palms at Thomas and the remaining guards. Two more fall while Thomas and last two jump across the fissure in the ground. Nolan steps in front of me, sprouts appearing and shooting up from the ground quickly. Dark green ivy vines spread out and intwine on themselves, forming a wall between us and them. Nolan grabs my hand and we sprint down the street, as my bag slides of of me. Glancing over my shoulder, more men pour out of the safe house. So I don’t stop to grab it but instead continue running.

  Guards try to get near us, but Kevin and Nolan attack them, keeping them at bay. Instead of paying attention to my surroundings, I watch in awe as Kevin sends a guy flying with a roundhouse kick to the stomach. Without warning, I’m grabbed from behind, his arms trapping mine to my side. As he tries to lift me, I pull my leg up, trying to kick him in the knee. He grunts in pain, his leg buckling. While he’s distracted, I squirm, turning towards him and raise my knee, making contact with his balls. On instinct, my elbow flies up and slams into his nose. Blood sprays all over me.

  He lets go and I scramble to get back to Kevin and Nolan. I make it half a foot before my head is jerked backwards from a hand wrapped in my hair. Looking up, a bleeding face smirks down at me. Looks like my guys have already gotten a few good licks in on this guy. My palm snaps up, smashing into his nose. His head snaps back on his neck and I take the opening to run. Man, In this moment I seem to love nose shots. His fingers are still in my hair and I lose a good chunk, but I manage to get away. In my rush, I trip over my feet and free fall. My head smacks on the paved sidewalk.

  Blood pours from above my eye. Hands grip my waist and I fight like a banshee.

  “Adaline,” Nolan cries, his voice urgent and my fight leaves me. “You have to open a portal. We need to get you out of here!”

  Closing my eyes, I try to find my center. Giddiness fills me, I finally get to use my powers. But then apprehension sets in. I’m not sure I can do this. There’s so much happening and I’m scared. Of course the first time I get to test my powers is when we’re fighting for our lives.

  Holding my palm up, I concentrate, wishing for us to be somewhere safe. Trying with all my might, I push my hand out again and a small tears appears right in front of us. My head swivels as I look for Kevin. I spot him, manipulating his water so that it looks like the spray from a fire hose. He’s holding the guards back, protecting us.

  Nolan pulls me into his arms as I continue trying to keep the tear open. “She opened one,” he calls over his shoulder. “Let’s go, Kev.” Without waiting for him, Nolan runs straight into the portal I just created, not even hesitating, trusting that it will get us to safety.

  As we pass through the rift, I realize I never picked a specific place for us to go. I just thought of safety. Aw, shit! We land on some light purple grass. Twisting in Nolan’s arms, I look up as Kevin falls though the tear. Using what energy I have left, close the portal up behind him. Nolan rolls over, looking around with wide eyes.

  My eyes follow his, shock filling me. I don’t have the energy to move so I flop back onto the strange grass.

  “Adaline, where did you take us?” he questions with his back to me.

  “I realized when we went through that I didn’t think of a specific place for us to go. I just wished we for somewhere safe.” I look around and everything here seems off, not real. The trees are different shades of yellow and orange, even the sky is more green than blue. I should probably be more worried, but for some reason, I’m not. I ca
n’t seem to keep my eyes open, though, as much as I want to explore this new place. I let my eyelids fall, glad that both of my guys are safe here with me.

  Glancing at Adaline, I find her laying in the strange purple grass with her eyes closed. She looks at peace even with the dried blood on her face. I turn my head away, trying to take in my surroundings. I can’t think of any place on Earth that would match what I’m seeing. Did she just take us to a different planet?

  “Kevin, stay on alert. I don’t know where we are, we need to be careful until Adaline has enough energy to bring us somewhere else.” Getting no response from him, I look around and Kevin has wandered off. Seriously? “Kevin, man, where the fuck are you?” I question, almost yelling. Unable to help myself, I let out a frustrated grunt into my hands. If we make too much noise we might draw unwanted attention to us.

  Kevin sprints out of the marigold colored tree line, startling me. “Seriously, do you want to get attention from people on a planet we have no idea about?” Kevin just smirks at me as I scold him.

  “Carry Adi and follow me, there are houses over there and what looks like Alchemists. I can hear powers buzzing off of them. She sent us to some kind of colony.” A colony? This doesn’t make any sense.

  “Kevin, think for a second. Have you ever heard of Alchemist existing anywhere but on Earth? Our genes come from studies and research not from another world. Something's not right here.” I tell him running my hand through my hair, a sinking feeling settles in my stomach.

  “Come on Nolan. We need to find a place for Adaline to rest and for us to figure everything out. If I can hear their buzzing, I’m sure they can hear you two. They’ll probably come looking for us anyway. We need help,” Kevin pleads with me.

  “We can go look but we need to be cautious Kevin,” I whisper, hoping to convey just how serious this situation is.

  He nods in agreement and turns to walk off. I slide my arms under Adaline’s neck and knees, picking her up with gentle care to carry her.

  Walking a few feet into the trees, houses that look like cartoon cottages come into view. I guess when your world looks like something a child drew up, there’s only so much you can do with the color schemes.

  People are everywhere, there looks to be some kind of food market in the street. Different shapes and colored objects are displayed. My guess is that they’re fruits and vegetables of some kind. The buzzing of their powers shocks me. I can’t believe there’s a whole other group of Alchemists that we had no idea about.

  “Hello, there,” a dark skinned man greets, walking our way and waving. “We didn’t know we would be having any newcomers. Tobias said he was leaving to get his daughter, is that her?” he points at Adaline as he’s talking.

  “You know Tobias Jones?” I ask him.

  “Yes, he popped up again a few months back, he’s the one that brought us to what we call Alt-Earth years ago when none of us wanted to stay on Earth and choose sides,” he answers.

  “Well, we haven’t seen Tobias. Adaline brought us here when we were trying to get away from some members of Horus. She has no idea her father’s looking for her,” Kevin starts cautiously.

  “So, you’re not affiliated with Horus or Osiris?” I demand with befuddlement.

  “No,” he replies, shaking his head. “Both parties have strayed away from the reason our kind exists in the first place. We used to strive to better ourselves. Both sides now just want power, and we don’t want that. I’m Emmanuel Subrun, you are welcome here. I will bring you to an extra cottage we have set up, so she can rest. I’m guessing you had a rough night, judging from your appearance.”

  Emmanuel seems genuine as he speaks, so we follow behind him. People we pass stop to say hello, one women even gives Kevin some kind of star shaped fruit or vegetable that’s red.

  After walking through the market, streets full of cottages come into view. Except for the beach house colors they have, they look rustic and cozy. This place is so different than Philadelphia. I’ve never lived somewhere that has trees and mountains surrounding it. Emmanuel stops us in front of a house, pulls out a key chain, lifts a key off of it and hands it to Kevin.

  “The house is all set up. We try to have something for anyone that shows up here for a safe haven. It’s been years since we’ve received new people. Tobias used to bring people over all the time but he stopped when his daughter started growing. Her subconscious must have remembered this place. She was just a little child when she was last here. He left hoping that if either Osiris or Horus found them, they would not be able to find out where he hid us.”

  Before I can ask a question about Tobias, he continues, telling us more about the house. “There’s a list of food and what they taste like in the kitchen. All the furniture may look funny but we try to make everything the same as it was on Earth. Everyone here likes to gather at that open shelter in the center of the market once a week. That’s happening tomorrow night, so take today to relax and then come by tomorrow to meet everybody. I’m sure once Tobias knows you’re here, he’ll show up. I expect to see him by the end of the week.” He gives us a salute and heads off in the direction we came. He must have some sort of military background with how stoic and well mannered he seems. I guess I’ll have to ask him more questions when we see him again later.

  Kevin opens the door using the key and I follow behind him as he enters the house. Inside the door, I stop and watch him disappear down the hall. This front space looks like a sitting room, I lay Adaline on the oddly shaped pink couch and place a blanket over her, tucking her in. After she’s settled, I head in the direction I saw Kevin go.

  I find him in the kitchen his hand on on his neck, looking down at a paper in his hand. I guess he’s trying to figure out the list of food the lady gave him. Shrugging, I move to the window and watch the people wander around town.

  “This seems too easy, Kevin. Something weird is going on here and Tobias Jones is behind it. How have we never heard of a safe place not associated with either group?” Kevin walks over and stands beside me, his brows low in confusion.

  “Maybe because all of our parents are high up in Horus. Who would be dumb enough to tell us? I think we need to at least wait here until Adaline’s dad shows his face,” he answers me, sounding unconcerned. He falls into silence as he stares out the window.

  I still can’t shake the bad vibe that I’ve been feeling since we fell through the tear. “We’ll stay, at least if Adaline agrees when she wakes up. But we don’t trust anyone but each other.” Kevin reluctantly nods before he stomps out of the room like a petulant child. What’s his problem?

  Looking back out the window, I study the strange new place we’ve come to. Adaline wished us somewhere safe when she opened the tear. But, will we ever really be safe?

  That’s it for Discovering Aether

  If you want to read more about Adaline, Nolan and Kevin,

  Book 2, Breathing Air is now available!

  Adaline finally sees her father,

  After she thought he was dead for all these years.

  Will she finally find out why he’s running from both Horus and Osiris?

  Will she and the guys stay on Alt Earth?

  And will they get the chance to find their remaining connections

  And become a powerful Quint?

  Or will everything just get worse?

  That was the introduction

  for my series and characters.

  If you want to get updates on the next book,

  Please check out my Author Facebook page:

  https://www.facebook.com/authoremilyjamestaylor/

  Also my Facebook group:

  Emily’s Alt Earth Denizens

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/AltEarthDenizens/

  Thank you!

 

 

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