The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  “And as for the rest of the men, we had our father fire them immediately.” She flung her hand as if they were of no consequence. “So, moral of the story, more than wolves come out of the forest. Sometimes good people can be found under dangerous clothes. And also, wolves like to hide in sheep’s clothing. So, stay away from furs in general, if you can.”

  I was frowning. “I don’t think I even own anything faux fur, let alone real fur.”

  “Ah, well then, I dare say you should be safe. For now.” Marge eyed me warily for a second before sipping at her tea. “What’s this boy’s name?”

  “Cade,” I replied hesitantly, but she was waiting for the rest. “Cade Landston.” The world stopped moving and time stood still, but only for the briefest of moments. It happened so quickly, I almost missed the pause.

  Marge blinked. “Has he done anything sweet for you? Maybe brought you flowers?”

  I thought for a second. “Yes, I guess. He picked me lilacs on our walk home.”

  “After you told him that you liked them?”

  “Yes.” What was she insinuating? That I was fishing for him to dote on me? I had never asked for those flowers, never even hinted at it. I was suddenly feeling stubborn.

  “Mm,” she hummed as she took another sip of tea. “I think you should forget about this boy. Anyone who would keep my little sister’s daughter a secret is too far gone for my taste.” Her nose lifted to the air, though I think it was accidental. “But, if you insist on seeing this Cade, my advice would be this: a tree is known by its fruit, not its leaves.”

  I sighed, the stubbornness draining from my body down into the floor, and I finished my tea. “As in: actions speak louder than words. Or good looks. Or, anything, I guess.”

  Puzzlement flittered across her eyes. “Sure. I guess you could take it that way.”

  What the hell? Ugh, never mind. That woman was baffling.

  “Thanks Aunt Marge,” I whispered as I gave her a quick hug.

  She was at least four inches taller than me, but just as thin, less curvaceous and therefore a little less cuddly. She wrapped her long arms around me anyway. “You’re welcome, dear.” She smiled and pulled away, squeezing my shoulders softly before rubbing at her eyes. “I’m going to bed now, though. It was a long day of stress and watching the news.”

  She looked sadly resigned as she shuffled off to her bedroom. I took a moment to refill my teacup. “Goodnight Aunt Marge,” I called before she disappeared.

  She turned her head, smiling softly. “Goodnight Valerie.”

  I added the ingredients just as she had, then trudged to my room and shut the door behind me.

  It was music time.

  I set the tea cup down, grabbed my phone off the nightstand, and plugged the earbuds in. When my phone registered the connection, the screen lit up. In the notification bar, an email sat waiting. I got the indie music going then clicked on the email icon. Correction, two emails sat waiting.

  First, my dad.

  Hey, sweetheart, it’s Dad. I miss you. I was just curious how your first day of school went. Hopefully they didn’t screw you with a ton of makeup work, but even if they did, you’re a smart girl, and I’m sure you’ll catch up quickly. Any boyfriends I need to be worried about yet? How’s life with Aunt Marge going? Anyway, sweetheart, I gotta go. I’m sorry I can never stay too long. I love you.

  Damn, so much had happened since I’d said goodbye to my dad at the pier. It was good to hear from him; I had almost forgotten how much I missed the man.

  Dad!!!

  I love you! And I miss you too!

  My first day of school was fine. I don’t have ANY makeup work because the teachers were all really awesome about it. The second day of school, though… Let’s just start with this: there was an earthquake. I’ll repeat that. THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE. Yeah. But nothing too serious.

  And also…I got into my first fight. Before you ask, no, I didn’t kick her ass. She was surprisingly stronger than she looked. There might be a next time, though…so I hope you’re not too upset about it.

  Noooo. No boyfriends just yet. I’ll just let that one lie right there lol

  How’s life on the ship?

  Life with Aunt Marge is fine. Maybe even better than usual, so that’s promising.

  Anyway, I won’t keep you. I know you don’t get much time to write back, and it’ll be even LESS if you have to read an essay from me first lol I love you Dad.

  - Valerie

  The second one was from Sienna.

  Hey, Valerie!

  It’s me again lol! Sorry it took me so long to reply. Packing has been craaazy! Anyway, I just got the address off of Mom: 114 Kensington Street, Center Allegheny, PA. I’m sure you don’t need the zip – you KNOW where the hell you live! I guess it’s in the nicer part of East End, if that helps?

  OMG, I can’t BELIVE that we’re moving in TWO DAYS!!! Ahhhhh! Wait, tomorrow is Friday, right? Yeah, and we’re moving Saturday. So, yeah lol. Sorry. I’ve been a little flustered lately. Imagine that!

  So tell me, are there any hot guys at my new school?? Aside from seeing you, that’s the part I’m most excited about! Haha! It’s been like a whole month since I’ve been out with anybody… Blah. Lol

  Hey! Do YOU have a boyfriend? And does HE have a friend? Because, YEAH, double dating!! Omg, PLEASE tell me this is gonna happen!? LOL!

  Do you still have the same cellphone number? Because it’d be easier to just text you lol especially on Saturday. Ah! I can’t wait to see you! Okay, tty soon!

  - Sienna

  A thick smile spread across my face and I realized I was actually feeling…giddy. I’d never had this before: a real, teenage girlfriend who I could talk about boys with, or double date with, or whatever. Of course, I could take that one step further and mention that I had never been close enough to anyone to even consider discussing any of that, but that was neither here nor there.

  Sienna,

  Oh my goodness, where to start!

  Yes, I know where East End is, so I’m sure I’ll stumble across your place with no problems on Saturday lol

  Yes (again) lol. My cell number is the same as it has been for the past two years. Feel free to text me whenever you need me!

  And, finally…I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m truly sorry to disappoint! HOWEVER! I am interested in two guys right now. If you could avoid putting your sights on either of them, that would be awesome lol and then, of course, you can have your pick of the entire rest of the town, let alone school, haha!

  Their names are Cade Landston and Holden Michaels. They’re both ridiculously handsome, but they’re both totally different! I’m also pretty sure they don’t like each other, so that ought to be interesting lol Cade is a little… Well. Haha. If you want to double date, I think Holden would be my best bet for that!

  Oh! And there’s this girl, Loren, who will be SUPER pissed if I date Holden. She’s already fought with me once about him. I’ll tell you all about THAT in person.

  But I have to go now. School comes early, you know! And I still have an assignment I need to look over before bed. I look forward to your reply, and I’m really excited to see you!

  - Valerie

  I hit send, then closed out my email. The music was still blaring vibrantly, my favorite tones and beats infiltrating my entire body through my ears. The vibrations pulsed across my skin, standing the hair of my arms on edge.

  Earlier in the evening, I’d completed my homework. There was nothing left to complete that would be due that week, but there was still something. Something that needed my careful consideration. Setting my phone on the nightstand, I grabbed my bag.

  The Elemental Basics was still in my possession, but I didn’t want to keep it that way for much longer. It was obviously locked for some reason, and curiosity drove me to find out why before I parted with it.

  If I only had the key.

  Chapter Nine

  The memory of an image popped into my mind immediately. How I had
ever even noticed it in the first place was beyond me, but I was suddenly very curious about a certain charm I remembered from the den. More than curious, I had a strong gut feeling that I was correct. The charm was looped around the neck of the tallest vial on the mantelpiece. A tiny key, no bigger than a decent-sized zipper. Brass, like the lock on the book. What if it fit?

  Marge had told me she was going to bed at least half an hour ago, but I couldn’t be sure she was asleep. I would have to be delicate on the floorboards.

  Toe after toe, I padded softly through the house. Each step felt like the smashing of a glass, each breath like a scream, but it couldn’t have been so, or Marge would’ve surely come running. Then again, she had slept right through my nightmare… However you looked at it, I made it to the den undisturbed.

  There it sat, just like it had in my mind. I didn’t have a replacement for the little charm, and leaving the biggest vial naked, just begging for Marge to see, seemed like a horrid idea. But, there was nothing else I could do; I needed that key. I would just have to take my chances.

  I quickly retraced my footsteps and shut the door behind me. I blew out a bated breath. The leather-bound tome sat atop my bed, and I eyed it cautiously for a moment. Why would a book about the four classical elements be locked? It wasn’t exactly uncommon knowledge. I walked over and compared the slight rectangular tooth to the keyhole. It would fit. I was sure of it.

  Grasping the little bow with my thumb and forefinger, I took a deep breath and twisted it carefully to the right.

  It unlatched with a gentle click.

  I exhaled slowly and set the key aside.

  I would skim through real quick, satiate my curiosity, and collect just enough information to complete my creative writing project. Then I would slip it back onto the bookshelf as quickly as possible. No harm done.

  The table of contents was awfully small for a book so big. Marge had the chapter on Earth circled and scribbled on, but I started with section one, the introduction. I yanked the earbuds out of my head, then whispered aloud to myself.

  “Now that you have come of age, you are, no doubt, wondering how to manage your own self, let alone manipulate the individual element within and around you. This can become arduous and vexing without the proper guidance.

  “The expectation is that this volume will provide such direction. Each classical element has a deep well of knowledge for the corresponding Elemental to tap into, and this guidebook will lay the foundation for the basics of each. Feel free to read your own particular section first, though I encourage you to read the book in its entirety, for intelligence’s sake.”

  I frowned curiously, but continued on. “Remember, control is mental, chaos is emotional. The first step to any semblance of control is reining in your emotions. The stronger the emotion, the more practice it will take to master it. The more practice, the better.”

  I skipped ahead a few pages. “The easiest way to begin learning manipulation is in the palm. Focus all of your energy and compel it to concentrate in the palm of your hand. If you have succeeded, there will be a smoky wisp no greater than three inches, but no smaller than one inch, sitting in your hand.

  “Depending upon what type of Elemental you are, the wisp will be shifting slightly differently. Fire will be flickering. Wind will be funneling. Water will be rippling. Earth will be twisting. If your wisp is smaller than one inch, you haven’t yet accumulated the proper amount of energy. If your wisp is larger than three inches, you haven’t yet contained your energy properly.”

  What the hell? I closed the book, careful not to let the latch shut, and studied the cover, spine, and backside. This was…an odd form of fiction. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, exactly, or what I was looking for on the leathery cover, but there was no suggestion of origin anywhere.

  I flipped it open to a random page about midway through the book. “Look at the tree. See its tiniest details: the roughness of the bark, the twisting of the branches, the lushness of the leaves.

  “Now, clench your fists if you must, but do not use your palms or fingertips. Use what the layman would call imagination. Imagine, or rather will the tree to catch on fire. You will feel the fire inside you responding to the outward demonstration of power.”

  Fire…

  I skimmed further to the end. “At first the proximity to your creation must be extremely close. You might, for instance, create a tree directly to your right. Twenty yards beyond that, you might only manage a shrub. And ten yards past that, a small flower. Any farther and your power might falter entirely.

  “Do not be discouraged! Some of you will be naturally more or less talented than your peers, but all of you will get stronger with practice!”

  Earth…

  I flipped to the beginning. “This is probably the most difficult element to understand, simply because you cannot see it. To the Wind Elemental, an airstream can be ‘seen’ outside of the visible spectrum of electromagnetic waves, similarly to the concepts of infrared or ultraviolet light. But it’s more so ‘felt’, like the vibrating sound waves of echolocation.”

  Wind…

  A large pinch of pages later, I continued. “This can be a very scary experiment for beginners who are not yet fully convinced of their powers, but a necessary one. Submerge at least your nose and mouth, though the whole body is recommended, in a pool of water. Take a moment to make certain of your composure. Then, breathe.”

  Water.

  I snapped the book shut and tossed it to the foot of my bed. I reached for the tea, which was now long cold, and finished off the cup. If Aunt Marge had added any special calming ingredients to her soul-soothing brew, I hoped they’d kick in soon. I needed something to take my mind off of that book, even for a few minutes. I knew it was fiction, but it felt almost too realistic.

  Suddenly the mystery of the moonflowers came back to my attention. Cade had literally been asking me about the elements a mere few hours before; wasn’t that a little too coincidental?

  Or, maybe I was crazy. If he asked me which superhero I wanted to be, then I came home and read a damn comic, would I be spazzing out about that, too?! I almost laughed, but it really was a good point.

  Still. I had to at least figure out why the flowers had disappeared—if they had even been there at all.

  Going out back would be unnecessary, though, and frankly, the thought of putting those filthy sneakers back on gave me goosebumps. No. The bathroom had a window, and I’d just steal one last glance from there.

  The relief that flooded me as I peeked through the blinds was ridiculous. They were there! And the rain had stopped. And, damn it, I had been so obviously stupid.

  They were moonflowers! Of course they wouldn’t have been there on my way to the willow; it was still daylight! And on my way back, it was obviously dark. And because of the rain, there were clouds—clouds that were covering the moon when I had caught my breath and looked behind me, therefore hiding the flowers that had actually been there the entire time.

  Bam!

  That revelation blazed only momentarily, though, before crumbling to ashes on the wind. The episode with Cade wasn’t creeping me out any more, but it was still cutting me like a knife. He had abandoned me in terrible circumstances, and with virtually no excuse. Add that to the issue of me now feeling like his dirty little secret, and together, it made me want to strangle him, to give him his own bout of the silent treatment, to leave him hanging high and dry and confused.

  Before I knew it, I was searching the internet for the local white pages. There were only two Michaels listed in Center Allegheny, Ann and Curwen, and they shared the same number. Holden’s parents.

  It might’ve been the stupidest idea ever, but I hit the call button before I could pansy out. No, calling Holden was a good idea—if he answered. It’d let me lash out at Cade, in a way, but it would also allow me to get to know Holden better—something I hadn’t even known I was craving until that moment. My insides coiled tightly in anticipation.

&
nbsp; “Valerie?” he answered almost breathlessly.

  “Holden?”

  He chuckled and continued breathing sort of quickly. “Well, yeah! I mean, you called my house. Who were you expecting?”

  I curled a strand of blonde hair around my finger. “I guess I was expecting to wake your parents and have them tell me it was way too late to be making phone calls.” His breathless laughter piqued my interest. “Are you out of breath?”

  “Yes,” he admitted humorously. “I sort of sprinted for the phone. You know, before it woke my phone-policing parents, who aren’t even home, by the way. They’re out on a date.” I could feel the smile in his voice through the phone.

  I could feel my own smile spreading as well. “A date, huh? Must be nice! Are you an only child?”

  “I am an only child,” he responded. “But I caught that. You think a date would be nice, do you?”

  My eyes widened. “Well, I mean, for your mother and father. Parents don’t usually get to go out much after they have kids, do they?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he drawled amusingly. “My parents go out all the time. I think they’re more into each other now than they were before I was born!”

  I giggled. I couldn’t help myself, and that was a little embarrassing.

  “I’m serious!” he insisted.

  “I believe you!” I cried softly. I didn’t want to wake Aunt Marge, who was most certainly asleep. I glanced at the time on the digital clock: eleven thirty. Shit, I should’ve checked the time first! His parents definitely would’ve given me a piece of their minds if they had been there.