Elemental Origins: The Complete Series

by A. L. Knorr

  A tiny finch the color of a lemon sat on the Adirondack chair, cocking its head at us and observing us through its shining black eyes. It gave a chirp.

  "Whoa," Georjie breathed.

  I couldn't resist holding a finger out to the little bird. Akiko hopped onto my finger and clutched it with fragile little claws.

  The air around the finch shimmered again and a raven the size of a small dog appeared on my hand. I gasped with surprise and turned my hand so she could grip my wrist and balance better.

  "How can you change mass like that?" Targa asked.

  "Are you kidding me?" Georjie shoved at Targa's shoulder with her foot and sent her back into the pool with a splash. "She just changed into two species of birds before our very eyes and you're asking about mass?"

  Targa came up laughing. "I can't help it." Targa smiled through the wet hair sticking to her face. She pushed her hair back. "Logistics, you know."

  "Logistics, whatever. This is magic."

  The crow gave a throaty caw and Akiko took to the air, circled tightly over the pool once, and disappeared into the plants where she'd tossed her robe. I picked up her sodden bathing suit and threw it into the bush.

  “Thank you,” came the muffled reply.

  A moment later, she stepped out of the foliage, tying the robe’s belt. She was smiling, but she also looked a bit dazed.

  "That was amazing!" I cried as Akiko rejoined our group and sat down. I was bursting with questions, and I wondered if she would shift on command into whatever bird species I asked for. Maybe a dodo bird? That would really throw our biology prof at Saltford High into a tizzy.

  But Akiko had her eyes on Georjayna. "What have you got in here, Georjie? Silkworms or something?"

  "Silk…what?" Georjie sputtered. "Why would I have silkworms in here?"

  "Well you've got something because I can see their connections to the Æther."

  Georjayna's smile faded and a look of understanding and wonder crossed her face. It was like drawing back a curtain on a clear blue day.

  "How many?" she asked Akiko.

  "I didn't count them, but quite a few. Maybe fifty. What are they?"

  Targa and I shared a bemused look.

  Without a hint of a joke on her face, Georjie answered, "They're faeries."

  "They're what now?" Targa’s eyes widened.

  "Well, to be strictly accurate, they're faerie cocoons."

  "Could this evening get any weirder?" Targa murmured.

  Yes it can. I haven't told my story, yet, I thought. Just you wait. It seemed sometime in the telling of Akiko’s story, I had made peace with telling my own.

  Akiko was nodding her head like nothing was unusual. "Faeries. Cool. Show us?"

  Georjayna crawled forward on her hands and knees to a potted plant with distinct trumpet-shaped flowers that I thought might be datura. "There. Can you see it?"

  I squinted into the shadows, feeling like an idiot. "Uh…."

  Targa bent over at the waist, peering where Georjie pointed. "I don't see anything. What are we looking for?"

  Akiko was also shaking her head. "Nope. I can see their connection to the Æther while I'm in Hanta form, but I can't see anything now."

  Georjie looked disappointed, but not surprised. "I knew Targa and Saxony probably wouldn't see them, but after your story, Akiko, I thought maybe…" She let the leaves close in again and shrugged. "Guess not."

  "Faeries? Is this for real?" My faith was being stretched to its limit with this one.

  Georjie nodded. "Akiko isn't the only one who had a wild supernatural summer, either. You know that photo you commented on in the foyer, Saxony?"

  I nodded.

  "It’s not photoshopped. That's really me." Georjie took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm a Wise, a kind of Earth Elemental… I guess. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out what a Wise is because I can't find anything on them, not even in the memoirs my ancestor left behind. She was also a Wise."

  Targa and I stared at her, our mouths agape.

  Akiko was listening and nodding as she poured herself another glass of tonic.

  Georgie continued, speaking more rapidly. "I don't know if you've ever heard the term before; I hadn't. But I'm not making this stuff up." She held up both palms. "It was the faeries that called me that."

  Targa's vivid eyes drifted from Georjie to me and back again, swimming with bewilderment. I felt the same. When Akiko had started telling her story, I was amazed. But now, Georjie too? What is going on here?

  "But Jasher could see them too,” Georjie was saying, “so I knew I wasn't going nuts, plus the whole tree experience just before my mom called," Georjie's hands were flashing around nervously, "and the horrible thing that Mailís did…"

  "Georjie, honey." I put a hand on her arm, gently pushing it down before she poked out someone's eye. "Why don't you go back to the beginning?"

  "I know I sound like a crazy person," Georjie wailed. "I wasn't planning on telling anyone, except Akiko saw the faerie helix-thingies and…"

  "We believe you," said Targa, who had gotten the incredulous look down to mild amazement.

  "You do?"

  "Of course, we do," I said. "You've got enough street-cred in our books to tell us you met King Kong at a pub in Anacullough and we'd believe you."

  Georjie cracked a smile. "Really?"

  "Yes." Targa took the Adirondack chair across from Akiko. "But you better go back to the beginning, because even though we believe you, nothing you just said made any sense."

  "Right." Georjie took a deep breath and pulled her knees in to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. "The beginning."

  We listened, eagerly, as Georjie told her story.

  "I can't even explain what it felt like, it was so strange…" Georjie said, her brown eyes alight, her expression faraway and engrossed. "It was so wonderful and powerful. It was like my roots went hundreds of feet into the earth and told me everything about what was around me. The layers of the earth's crust and everything growing there was listening and waiting."

  "For what?" Targa sounded as awed as I felt.

  "To understand my will, for me to ask it for help. I towered high above the ground, even as my roots shot deep into it. Honestly, I thought I had transformed into the biggest tree in the world."

  "Like an Ent." I recalled the Lord of the Rings films we had watched together when we were younger, and the huge walking, talking trees who joined in the battle against Saruman.

  "Yes, kind of. I felt so slow-moving, but I think in real life, it all happened very fast. I lifted and tossed the soil like a salad, burying Mailís, the house, and every nasty thing left behind by the whole horrid history of that place. And then I replaced it with new life, all in an instant." She snapped her fingers. "Just because I wanted to."

  "Have you done it again?" Akiko asked.

  Georjie shook her head. "No, nothing like that. But I know I could if I wanted to. I can feel my connection to the earth like this amazing kinetic force that is constantly flowing from the ground. But I can tell you that when I got the call that my mom was in the hospital…" Georjie choked up and her throat worked for a moment before she continued, "it taught me that my powers are a two-edged sword."

  "What do you mean?" This statement hit so close to home that I was feeling a little breathless.

  "I mean, I made her sick, just by all the negative thoughts I had about her over the summer," Georjie explained. "I could have killed my own mom."

  Akiko put her hand on Georjie's arm. "You don't know that for sure."

  "Yes, I do. I know it. I could do the same to any one of you." Georjie's eyes took on a troubled cast. "I'm…dangerous."

  "You'd never do anything to hurt us, Georjie." Targa spoke with confidence, but I knew how Georjie felt; I'd had my own struggles with temper and control.

  "I'd like to think not," replied Georjie, "but these powers are new to me. I'm still learning what I am and what I'm capable of."

  "Is th
ere anyone you can talk to? Maybe Jasher knows somebody, or there's a reference in your Aunt Faith's library in Ireland that might point you to another Wise? Someone who can teach you?" Akiko shifted, pulling her legs up and crossing them beneath her.

  Georjie shook her head. "Not that I know of. I've looked."

  I empathized deeply with this desire. How badly I had needed to talk to someone who knew what was happening to me; how frightening it had been to change so drastically and not understand what was going on. How relieved I had been when Enzo had put me on Basil's trail, and how thankful when Basil had turned out to be more than willing to help.

  "I bet there is somebody out there, Georjie," I ventured. "Don't give up. There has to be more beings like you."

  Targa was nodding. "Absolutely."

  "What makes you so sure?"

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say, because Basil told me there are many different kinds of supernaturals, but instead I said, "Because that kind of elemental power doesn't just come out of nowhere. It must evolve over time, like every other kind of being. There have to have been Wise that existed before you."

  "You healed your mom though, didn't you?" Akiko's mind was on a different track.

  Georjie nodded and smiled. "I did. It was amazing. Definitely the highlight of my summer." Her cheeks tinged with pink. "That, and the kiss."

  "Say what now?" I straightened. "You conveniently left that part out.”

  "At the very end of the summer. It was beautiful. More of a good-bye kiss, I guess."

  "You're not together?"

  She shook her head. "Not together, no. Jasher's got things to do. Now that he isn't being tortured by ghosts everywhere he goes, he wants to travel. Maybe I'll meet up with him somewhere, but neither of us wants a relationship right now." She blew out a long breath. "I have to sort myself out, not to mention finish high school without killing anyone."

  "So, you're called a Wise?" Targa hadn't said much as Georjie told her story. She was looking thoughtful and guarded. "But you define it as an Earth Elemental?"

  "I didn't call it that. Mailís did, in her diary."

  "But your parents split up," Targa pointed out.

  This seemed so random and strange that none of us responded at first.

  "Uh…" Georjie droned. "Yes, they did. What does that have to do with–"

  "Sorry." Targa blushed and made a face, like she was kicking herself. "I just had a crazy thought that your powers came from your parents. Forget I said anything." She pinched her lips together. She waved her hand at the pool and the jungle. "So, this is why you created this greenhouse?"

  Georjie nodded. "We wanted to make a safe place where fae could hatch. We took out all the electrical wiring and the modem we had in here. Obviously, we can't have a chemical as powerful as chlorine in here, so we changed the pool to saltwater. The cocoons are why I asked you guys to leave your cell phones upstairs. They can destroy a cocoon in seconds. Jasher thinks there's a dearth of fae these days because of all the toxicity in the world. It wasn't easy to create the conditions they needed, but with some high-tech sprinklers that use rainwater we collect from the roof"—she pointed at the ceiling where several nozzles protruded from the ribs between the glass panels—"we figured it out."

  "You're like a bee-keeper," said Akiko, "but for faeries."

  Georjie laughed. "Yeah, you nailed it."

  "I wish I could see them," added Targa dreamily. "How amazing to be able to see faeries."

  "You're not surprised that they exist?" Georjie asked us. "I expected to have a harder time proving to you that I wasn't making all this crazy stuff up about faeries and ghosts."

  At this question, there were several glances around the group.

  “I was a little surprised,” I admitted, “but not overly.”

  After the summer I’d had, faeries weren’t too much of a stretch. Akiko was watching me and I was watching Targa. Akiko had no problem believing it because she'd seen their connections to the Æther, but why did Targa seem so ready to believe? Targa just shook her head, her expression impenetrable.

  "And the sudden plethora of big huge jungle plants?" I asked. "I'm guessing you didn't buy these at the local greenhouse."

  Not that the Sutherlands couldn't afford it, but the plants around us would have cost a small fortune. The aloe vera plant across the pool from where we were sitting would be worth hundreds of dollars by itself. I knew that because my mom had been nursing her own aloe vera collection for years and often griped about the cost of adding new ones.

  Georjie smiled and raised a hand toward the datura beside us.

  As we watched, the plant grew, not just visibly but rapidly. New shoots developed and thickened, fresh leaves unfurled, baby buds lengthened from its tips, and its blossoms burst open with little puffs of pollen. It was like watching a time-lapse film. The fresh growth was bright green and seemed to reach toward Georjie's fingertips, shaking and dancing under her control.

  Georjie put her hand down. The plant settled and went still. It was two feet higher and its foliage much thicker. A dozen more trumpet-shaped blossoms hung from its branches. Its heady perfume filled my nose, making me feel a bit dizzy.

  "Dude," was all I could think of to say. First Akiko, now Georjie…and the girls didn't know about me yet. I glanced at Targa. Did she have a secret, too?

  "Yeah," Akiko agreed.

  "Something really weird is going on here," I finally said out loud.

  "You're not kidding," Targa agreed. "Akiko is immortal and Georjie has a serious green thumb, to understate things on a galactic level."

  "Yes, but…" I held my hand out, palm up. I lit a fireball in my palm and let it flicker there. My friends gasped as my fire reflected in their shocked faces. "Really weird."

  Saxony

  "I wasn’t sure what my intentions were when I came here tonight," I admitted.

  They had listened to my story with many more comments than when Akiko or Georjayna had told theirs, as if they’d already acclimated to our new reality.

  "But how could I not tell you everything after what's happened to you," I said to Akiko, "and you." I looked at Georjie. "It made my decision pretty easy. Mind you, Basil would probably kill me if he knew that I'd told more than family members."

  My burnt-out vocal chords were huskier than normal from all the talking. I took a few big gulps of water, realizing I hadn't drunk anything since I'd started telling my story, and I was beginning to feel a little too warm.

  "We are your family, Saxony." Georjie picked up the water jug and refilled my glass.

  "I know," I said, and smiled at her. "But I don't think Basil would see it that way."

  "Understandable." Targa crossed her legs at the ankles and leaned back on her tailbone. "He's just trying to keep you safe. The more people know what you are, the more potential danger there is for you."

  "Easy now, Targa," Georjie said, setting down the jug. "We're trying to make her feel better about sharing her most intimate secret, not worse."

  "I'm just saying." Targa sounded a little defensive and her palms were up. "I would have understood if she hadn't told us. It's a big thing, sharing a secret like that."

  "At least now I don't have to make up some story about wanting to go to a private school in England and miss out on my last year of high school with you guys," I went on. "That would have been a hard sell."

  "Very." Georjie made a face. "With the potential you have of being prom queen? I never would have bought it."

  "I'll try not to take offense at that," I replied with a croaky laugh. "There are far more important things to me than being prom queen." Although I had to admit that this was something I would have cared a lot about before. Oh, how things had changed.

  "So, when do you leave for England?" Akiko asked.

  "As soon as I get my student visa sorted out. I have to submit the application on Tuesday." I took several more gulps of water.

  "Think Basil would let you have visitors who aren't your paren
ts?" Georjie filled my glass for a third time, draining the jug. She got to her feet. "I'll get more. You were really thirsty."

  "Thanks, Georjie. To answer your question, I sincerely doubt it." I put the glass back on the table. An idea struck. "Maybe if he knew I had two supernatural friends. He'd probably want me to invite you there just so he could study you."

  "Appealing," Akiko murmured sarcastically.

  Georjie looked thoughtful. "Still, you say Basil has been studying supernaturals for years? Would you mind asking him if he's ever studied a Wise?"

  "I can ask him, but he'll wonder why I'm asking."

  "I don't mind if you tell him you have a friend who is a Wise. I mean, I feel pretty alone and vulnerable with these powers. I'd really like to find someone who knows more than I do, even if it’s someone who isn't a Wise themselves."

  "Okay, I'll ask him next time I talk to him."

  "Thank you." Georjie opened the door but looked over her shoulder. "Don't say anything until I'm back—I don't want to miss anything!"

  We agreed, then waited until she returned with a full jug of water before Akiko asked the next question.

  "So, what does your family think of you owing some mafia boss a favor?"

  "Ha!" I gave a laugh but it came out as a squeak. I coughed to clear my throat. "James and Annette are just thrilled, I can tell you."

  "No idea what he'll ask you to do?"

  "Nope. Or when he'll call in the favor."

  "He'll probably wait until you're finished with Arcturus," Targa ventured. "After all, it was his idea."

  I nodded.

  Georjie sat on the ground and dug her toes into the dirt. She shook her head. "I can't believe everything you went through and we never knew it."

  "You were going through stuff, too," I pointed out.

  "Yeah, but we weren't burning up from the inside," Akiko added. "Dante sounds…possessed."

  "Maybe he is." Targa moved over to dangle her legs in the pool. "Maybe you should fly on over to Venice and check him out, Akiko."

  "Maybe I will."

  "You don't sound like you're joking," I said.

  "I'm not," Akiko replied. "What else have I got to do now but what I was born for? Now that I'm not under Daichi's control, I don't want to be sitting in classrooms—much as I'll miss you guys—I want to be out hunting. I need to be hunting."