Elemental Origins: The Complete Series

by A. L. Knorr

  "So, is it the fact that we know one another and are close that this happened to us? Or do you think it’s happening to lots of people and we just don't know it?" Akiko wondered.

  "I have a theory about that–" Georjie began.

  The knocker on the front door sounded off three times.

  "Who could that be, at…" I grabbed my watch from where I'd stuffed it into the toe of my shoe. "Great Scott! It's eight in the morning!"

  "The sun was up over an hour ago, Saxony." Targa laughed at me.

  "Great Scott?" Akiko raised an eyebrow at me as Georjie was getting to her feet. "Sleep deprivation transforms you into Christopher Lloyd?"

  My jaw cracked with a yawn as I got to my feet to follow Georjie. "Who is Christopher Lloyd?"

  Akiko rolled her eyes. "Millennials."

  "Centenarians," I mimicked, shoving her sideways toward the pool.

  "Hey!" She staggered and caught herself before falling in.

  We followed Georjie out of the greenhouse and up the steps to the front foyer. Georjie stopped at the top step and laughed at the cluster of us behind her. "I can answer the door by myself, you guys."

  "I wanted to check my phone anyway." I reached for my mobile.

  "Me too," said Targa, reaching for hers.

  "I just love your company so much I didn't want to be without y'all," Akiko drawled.

  I clicked on my phone. "Crikey, I can’t believe we were up all night!”

  "Crikey? You must have learned that one from Basil.” Georjie unlocked the door and swung it open.

  Petra

  The sky was a fetching palette of autumn blues and peaches as the sun worked its way into the sky over the Atlantic. A smudge of clouds hugged the horizon, but it promised to be a glorious fall day.

  I turned off my car and glanced at my cell phone to check the time: 7:55. I peered through the window at the palatial white house with the four columns along the porch and the green trim around the windows.

  I frowned. Eight a.m. was awfully early on a Sunday to be knocking on strangers’ doors, but Jody assured me that this morning would be the best time. I got out, closed my car door, and crossed the street.

  My stomach was aflutter with nerves. I had my pitch relatively straight, I thought. The objective was simply to get the girls to attend a presentation at the field station. No other commitment would be required. If I could do that, my first assignment would be considered a success.

  Alright then.

  I took the steps two at a time and used the door knocker. A minute later, I heard voices and soft footfalls of people moving either up or down a set of stairs.

  The door opened and four girls peered out at me curiously.

  "Can I help you?" the tall blond one asked.

  "I'm Air," I said, as Jody had instructed me to introduce myself. I felt stupid, but she'd insisted they would respond better to this introduction than any other. Since they were Elementals, it would tell them a lot without having to make a long explanation.

  The shock on all four faces was instant and profound. I had shaken them, and badly. I immediately regretted listening to Jody.

  "I'm sorry," I amended. "My name is Petra. I'm an Elemental, like you. I was wondering if I could chat with you? It won't take long. I believe we might be able to help each other."

  The shock seemed to deepen and the air felt laden with bewilderment. Apparently, I had just made things worse. I opened my mouth to offer some kind of comfort when the petite girl with honey-colored eyes said, "You'd better come in."

  "Thanks." I gave a relieved exhale. "I'm sorry, I can tell I've upset you. It wasn't my intention."

  "Wait," the vivacious looking redhead with the strange reflective eyes said, raising a hand. She held a cell phone in her hand, face up as though she'd just been looking at it. Her voice rasped nicely over my eardrums. This girl had to be the fire mage. She might as well have had 'fire' tattooed on her forehead.

  "How did you know we were here?" Fire demanded. "Who are you? Besides…'Air'?" She said the last word with a slight curl of her upper lip.

  I sensed mistrust from her that was absent in the other women. Whatever her story was, she'd been through something that had made her extremely wary.

  "I knew you'd be here because my supervisor told me you'd be here. I don't know how she knew, but she did. And I can explain further out here on your porch, but I think this conversation would best be done in private." I said all this without any attitude or suggestion of threat in my voice. It wasn't easy. The redhead was now glaring at me. I stomped on the desire to read her mind. It was too early in the day for a headache. I could always fall back on telepathy if things deteriorated.

  "Your supervisor?" the tiny Asian girl asked. She was the one I had been told the least about, since she wasn't of interest to TNC. She couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds soaking wet. Though she had the stature of a child, her eyes sent a shiver through me. They looked old. Ancient, even. What are you? I wondered. I realized, now that I was really looking at her, that I had seen her face before.

  "Just come in," said the blond one who looked like she'd spent most of the summer lying in the sunshine. "I apologize for my rude friend." She elbowed the redhead and shot her a glare, then extended a hand to me. "I'm Georjayna."

  I took her hand, gladly. "Petra Kara."

  "Georjie," the redhead husked in a tone full of warning, clearly not pleased but hesitating to say why in my presence.

  "Really?" Georjayna answered her friend. "Are you really afraid of her? Look at her!" She waved a long arm in my direction. "She's just a kid, like us."

  Georjayna shut the door behind me.

  I couldn't help but smile at the implication Georjayna was making. Why should they be afraid of me? These girls had supernatural abilities. They were exponentially better equipped to protect themselves and one another than any normal human.

  "And she's one of us," the blond continued. "Weren't we just saying it would be nice to meet someone like us? Someone with some answers?" She swung her brown eyes in my direction. "Do you have answers?"

  "Depends what the questions are, but if I don't have answers, I can hook you up with someone who might." Hiroki seemed to know everything about supernaturals. I felt sure he'd love to help these girls the same way he'd been helping me.

  "There, you see?" Georjayna put her hands on her hips.

  The redhead did not see. Clearly, the idea of taking them to someone who might have answers had not done the trick. Her pouty mouth tightened and the corners turned down as she assessed me coldly. Funny how Fire could feel so icy.

  "You must be the fire mage." I fixed a friendly and relaxed look on my face. "Saxony, right?" I held out my hand.

  Her strange green eyes widened and she crossed her arms while uttering a curse under her breath. Then, "Who do you work for?"

  The question was like a barbed spear thrust in my direction, but I was glad for the segue.

  "A company called The Nakesh Corporation, TNC for short. Have you heard of it?"

  The raven-haired woman with the otherworldly blue eyes (definitely the mermaid, as Jody had described her coloring to me) gave a small intake of breath. "Mr. Nakesh's corporation? The billionaire tech tycoon?"

  "The same," I replied. "So you’ve heard of it."

  "If you'll excuse me," Saxony interrupted. "I need to make a phone call before this goes any further." She pointed a finger at me. "Say nothing else until I'm back."

  It wasn't a request. I decided right there and then that I liked this feisty redhead, even if she didn't like me much. Yet.

  "As you wish," I replied, palms up. "I can't proceed without you anyway."

  "Why's that?" She arched an elegant red brow, the eye beneath it judging, assessing.

  "This is an all or none proposition. Except for you," I said to the most petite one of the group whose name I'd been told but had forgotten since she wasn't part of the assignment. Jody had said that if the girls insisted on her presence, I
had permission to allow it, but they preferred she not attend. "Sorry, I hope that doesn't offend you. TNC has an offer for these three, which will be shared at a presentation.” I gestured toward her friends. I held my hand out to her. "Lovely to meet you, though…"

  I waited for her name.

  She grasped my hand and shook, but her face was an enigmatic mask. "Akiko. No offense taken."

  "Wait a second," the mermaid—Targa—spoke up. Her voice had an enchanting layered quality and I immediately wished for her to speak again. She was doll-like in her perfection, yet gave off the aura of a predator. Her energy was appealing in the same way many of the most beautiful and deadly creatures of the sea were attractive, times one-hundred. I wanted to reach out and touch her but thought that if I did, I risked drawing back a bloody stump. The little I had learned about Water Elementals was limited to what they could do with water and the fact that they could shape-shift into mermaids, but I had a feeling that her abilities could be far more seductive than making waves.

  “Targa?” I held out my hand.

  She opened her mouth, closed it, then shook my hand with the briefest of touches, her beautiful eyes laced with concerned. "First off, it’s very disconcerting that you know our names. Second, you want to make us a proposition, but without including Akiko? Why?"

  "I don't know, to be honest, but if you'll let me tell my story and agree to what I'm asking, you can ask my supervisor all the questions you want."

  Georjayna and Targa shared a bewildered glance and they all looked at Akiko.

  Akiko shrugged as if to say, what do you want me to do about it?

  "Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder," Targa said.

  I turned to Saxony where she was hovering at my elbow. "You wanted to make a call?"

  Saxony nodded. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be right back." She turned and left the house and the door snicked shut behind her.

  Saxony

  I took the stairs down from Georjie's porch and went up the sidewalk, my cell clutched in my hand. I searched for Basil's number and hit dial. Surely, if this woman was hiding some sinister motive, or if the company she worked for was the kind of corporation Basil had repeatedly warned me about, he would know it. I walked a distance from the house, listening to the ring in my ear.

  "Saxony?" Basil's rich accented voice filled me with warmth. I couldn't help but smile.

  "Hello, Basil. How are you?"

  "Busy preparing for the year but very well. Yourself?"

  "I'm good too. Listen, I won't take up much of your time. I just have a question."

  "I have nothing but ears and time for you, Saxony."

  "Oh, thank you." I cleared my throat. There was something about Basil's tone that always kept me guessing whether he was being serious or just having fun with me. "Ever heard of a company called The Nakesh Corporation? TNC for short."

  "Of course. Mr. Nakesh is famous in tech. His company is always in the news for some invention or breakthrough or another. Why?"

  I heard no alarm in his voice. "They're not one of the evil corporations you've been watching?"

  Basil chuckled. "Saxony, TNC is single-handedly responsible for giving clean water to something like five-hundred villages in Africa. Mr. Nakesh has a patent on a self-cleaning filtration system. Once installed, these systems require no maintenance. Other corporations would install systems that require upgrades and filter-changes in order to create a source of revenue, but TNC didn't do that."

  I began to feel badly about how I had reacted to Petra. "Oh."

  "Why do you ask?"

  "One of their employees, an Air Elemental, has approached me to attend a presentation. She knew who I was and where to find me. It kind of freaked me out."

  "An Air Elemental?"

  "That's what she said."

  "Hmph."

  "What, hmph? What does hmph mean?"

  "I've been archiving supernaturals for years; there is only one Air Elemental that I've ever heard of and it’s highly unlikely that this girl is in that category."

  "Why is it unlikely?"

  "Because—there is only one."

  My brows arched in surprise. "Like, only one in all of existence?"

  "That's right. If she is what she says she is, she is one in seven billion." He paused. "I would like to meet her. Maybe she has some kind of supernatural power and doesn't know how else to label it."

  "So, what can she do? Like, create storms, or something?"

  Basil chuckled. "My portfolio for this kind of Elemental is rather skinny, as I've never met one, and my information gathering has always been from second- or third-hand sources; but if she is a true Air Elemental, she is capable of a lot more than that."

  "Like what?"

  "Well, why don't you ask her to show you? She wants you to attend a presentation. Why don't you ask for something in return? Proof."

  This made sense, but if I asked her to prove herself to us and she did, then by this logic we'd be bound to say yes to her pitch. Which, all things considered, wasn't really a big ask.

  "Silence?" Basil prompted.

  "Sorry, I'm just thinking."

  "Have I helped?"

  "Yes. You've helped a lot. Thanks. I won't keep you."

  "You'll let me know what happens with this woman, though? What did you say her name was?"

  "Petra…Petra something. I've forgotten her last name."

  There was a low grunt. "Never heard of her. Honestly, I would wager you'll catch her in a lie, or you'll be sorely disappointed with her skills. If that's the case, then you can just part ways and tell her you're not interested."

  "I'm not interested, regardless. I want to come to Arcturus."

  "Arcturus will always be here for you, Saxony. You can come at any time, but I have to admit I am glad to hear you say that." He let out a breath into the receiver and it sounded like wind in my ear. "There is no harm in listening to her. You might learn something you can pass on to me and it will have cost us nothing. I would be curious to hear what TNC is up to these days. They're secretive about their projects, to say the least."

  The gears in my mind were clicking along at a rapid pace. I was glad I had Basil in my back pocket. His advice solidified it for me. I would ask Petra to prove herself. Based on that, we could either tell her to bug off, or we'd have made a new supernatural friend.

  "Thank you, Basil. I appreciate your time."

  "Of course. My pleasure. And, Saxony?"

  "Yes?"

  "Would you try and get her abilities on video for me? It's not likely she'll let you, but you can at least ask. Video footage is very valuable to my library."

  "Sure. I'll try. Bye, Basil."

  "Good bye—"

  "Oh, wait!" I remembered what I'd promised Georjie.

  "What?"

  "Have you got anything in your archives about a supernatural called a Wise?"

  There was a pause. Then, "How do you know that term?"

  "I'll have to tell you another time. Long story."

  Basil grunted. "I do, but not very much. Earth Elemental. Much rarer than fire magi. In comparison, we are a dime a dozen."

  "Oh?" I wasn't sure if learning that would make Georjie happy or unhappy. She wanted someone to talk to about her powers, but wasn't it nice to know she was exceptional in the world of supernaturals? As much as I hated going through what Dante had put me through, the fact that my powers were unrivaled among my kind felt kind of good. No one fancied being a dime a dozen. "Interesting. What about in comparison to a fire mage who's been through a burning?"

  Basil chuckled. "Feeling a little trivial now, are we?"

  "No, I—" I pressed my lips together. I was, and Basil knew it. He was so intuitive.

  "If my research is accurate, and I'm not saying it is, you're as rare as a Wise. But Wise are very shy and they tend not to live in populated areas, so who can say for sure."

  That made sense given what Georjie's skills were and how sensitive she'd said the fae were to
pollution. Why wouldn't a Wise just live in a jungle away from civilization? I couldn't picture Georjie ever wanting to do that, though; she was an urban girl through and through. Just the fact that she now liked to go around barefoot was astonishing.

  "Why do you ask about the Wise?" Basil paused. His voice was infused with a sudden and palpable hope. "Have you come across one?"

  I couldn't help but grin. You have no idea, I thought. Seems like everyone I know is some kind of supernatural. I opened my mouth to ask him if he'd ever heard of multiple supernaturals emerging from a single city or town, but then remembered that everyone was waiting for me, and they were probably standing in the foyer staring at Petra awkwardly. "I'll tell you another time. But maybe you can dig up what you have for me?"

  I also wanted to ask him to dig up anything he had about mermaids and Hanta, but one thing at a time. That would really tip him off.

  "I'll look into it, but I won't know if I can share it with you until I look at it. Some files are more classified than others, depending on who they're about. If I am able to share it with you, I won't send you anything electronically, you'll have to wait until you're here to see it. I don't mess around when it comes to risking the identity of anyone in my dossiers. If supernaturals think they can't trust me, they'll never talk to me."

  "Okay, I understand. Thank you." I hung up the phone, feeling better, and headed back to the house.

  Petra

  When Saxony returned, she seemed a lot more relaxed. I didn't know who she'd just been talking to or what they’d told her, but I sent them a mental thank you.

  Saxony shot her friends a smile and a nod.

  "Why don't we go into the kitchen. Would you like a coffee?" Georjayna offered. "We have an amazing coffee machine my mother had shipped all the way from Naples."

  I grinned and shucked my denim jacket. "How can I turn that down?"

  "You can't," Saxony said as we went up the stairs and into the bright and airy kitchen.