Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Gwen

I’m not really sure what just happened. In one moment I was terrified and trapped, the next I’d managed to free myself and calm had settled over my body. Then a sort of electric current rushed through my veins and I remembered seeing lightning and then I was back, crouched on the ground, resting on my knees for support and surrounded by bodies. I have a raging headache and, for the first time, I’m relieved to see Derek. He looks concerned and he’s talking to me but it takes a second for me to decipher what he’s said and respond.

“How did you get here?”

He looks a bit numb, not surprising really. I’ve just killed eight Elementals right in front of him and I don’t know how.

“I was at your front door when you called out to me, do you remember?”

I do remember. I knew that I was being attacked by Elementals, I don’t know how, and I called out to Derek for help using my mind.

“Of course I remember I just didn’t know you were there. I called out hoping you’d hear me. Who are they? What did they want with me?”

I need to know. I’m one step away from freaking out.

“Tell me what happened.”

I tell him about the attack. What I don’t seem capable of explaining is how incredible it felt. All that energy; that rush of almost joy and safety and a feeling of home, running through me, making me strong and chasing away my fear. My head started hurting while I was talking and reaching up to see what happened, I realise I’m bleeding. Derek walks over and moves to the back of my head. I let him, no harm in letting him make sure I’m not missing the back of my skull Because that’s what it feels like right now. A tingling sensation spreads across my scalp as Derek answers my question.

“We call them Recruiters. You know the bad guys in every story; the ones who think Humans are lesser beings and just want to take over the world?”

I nod, that seems to be the best I can do at the moment.

“Yeah, that’s them.”

So, I’ve just had a run in with the bad guys? Why didn’t he tell me about them before?

“I don’t understand. What did they want with me?”

“I told you that your energy is very strong. They’re able to feel it too. I imagine they were going to take you and try and convince you to help them and, if you didn’t agree to do it willingly, I imagine they would have tortured you until you agreed to be their new weapon.”

Great, so I’m a magnet for trouble. Wait, did he just call me a weapon? His showing up in my life suddenly makes a lot more sense. Is he just trying to get me over to his side so that he can use me as a weapon against them? I stand and get some distance between us, all relief at him showing up evaporating.

“Is that why you want me? So you can train me to be a weapon against them.”

My question surprises him. Good.

“No. Everything to do with your abilities is up to you. If you want to train the way I have and ome a warrior or anything, then you stay and you train. If you don’t, you can leave once you’ve trained enough to be in control of your magic. You don’t even have to go to boot camp if you don’t want to.”

I feel a little better but I’m still wary. I catch sight of one of the bodies and my concern doubles. I’ve just killed people. Holy crap, I’ve killed people. What’s going to happen to me?

“What do we do with them? Also, how much trouble am I in? They were Elementals, is there some law against killing them. Am I going to get thrown into, like, Elemental prison Because of this?”

I need to know Because there is no way that I go anywhere with him if he is just going to try and lock me up.

“No. They were Recruiters, it’s actually the Warriors jobs to track them down and do just this. You might have some jealous Elementals on your hands when we get to boot camp. Speaking of which, how do you feel about leaving tonight. Just head back, get your things and go?”

Great, before I ever get to the Grand Canyon I’m going have people who don’t want me there. I’m surprised by how good going there still sounds though. Getting away from here and learning about whatever the hell I am seems like the most reassuring thing ever.

“That actually sounds like a good idea. I just need to get my stuff and shower first. I’m covered in mud.”

“Shall we?”

We head back to my house in silence. I don’t feel like talking anymore, I feel like thinking. The more I try to figure out what I did in the clearing, the more confused I get. I remember there being a storm and I think I remember creating it, but after that everything just blurs into one solid thought and I can’t manage to single anything out. We get back to my house and I walk straight through the gate that is still open and swaying in the breeze. Picking up my clothes and walking straight into the house, I head for my bathroom. A hot shower always makes me feel better and today is no exception. As I wash my hair I realise that my head isn’t bleeding anymore, in fact, my head doesn’t hurt at all. That must have been the tingly feeling in my head; Derek healed whatever wound was there. I use my favourite body wash and start to feel human again, all the while trying to decipher what happened today. Did I fly? I remember leaving the ground and just hanging in the air. How did I do that? Being able to fly would be awesome, is that something Elementals can do? I’ll have to ask Derek.

I finish in the shower, get dressed in the jeans and tank top that I bought in from the clothes line and don’t even bother drying my hair. I finally went and got it cut so it isn’t going to take too long to dry. It sits just below my ears, long enough to be thrown back into a very short pony tail but not long enough to annoy me. Long hair is always annoying, mostly Because styling my hair has never been something that I was interested in. I don’t even wear make-up. Those sorts of girly things just don’t interest me. Spending an hour every day just doing my hair and make-up just seems like a waste of time to me.

I walk out of my bathroom to find Derek standing in the hallway. Has he just been standing there the entire time? Weird.

“Is there anything specific I should take with me?” I ask as I head into my room to finish getting my things ready.

“Not really, just clothes and anything personal you might want to take with you.”

I don’t really have anything personal that I’d like to take; Just my sketch pad and a few books. I doubt I’ll be training every minute of every day and I’ll probably get bored if they give me too much free time. I pack a few books that I haven’t read yet and grab my sketch pad and pencil case. I pack a spare sketch pad for good measure, the one I’m using at the moment is half full and I don’t want to run out of pages. I see Derek looking sceptically at my bag and understand why. It’s the biggest one I have, but, it’s shaped like a cartoon t-rex.

“You have a bag shaped like a dinosaur?”

“Yes, problem?” I don’t really feel like copping any mockery at the moment.

“Nope,” he says wisely. “No problem at all.”

“It’s the biggest bag I have, besides, who doesn’t like dinosaurs?”

He seems to find something funny.

“You have a point, are you ready to go?”

Am I forgetting anything? I do a quick run through my list. Hairbrush, toothbrush, bras and underwear, lots of shirts and pants, shoes and socks, toothpaste; I check it all off my list and nod.

“What about my family?”

“No one will notice that you aren’t there and I have a few people who will check in on them to make sure they’re okay,” he replies.

I’m thankful that he has someone checking in on my family. I don’t want anyone to be able to hurt them and I certainly don’t want them filing a missing person’s report and having the police trying to hunt me down.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.” He’s holding his hand out to me. Why does he want me to hold his hand?

“You’re going to have to hold my hand, just for a second, so I can take us both to boot camp.”

Oh, that makes sense. He said he has to sort of teleport us, right? I take hold of his hand. It’s big, warm and calloused. He extends his mind toward mine and I let him, watching as he focuses on an image that I recognise. It is similar to the photos you always see of the Grand Canyon, and he takes a step forward. I feel the ground fall out from beneath my feet and I squeeze Derek’s hand, gripping his forearm with the other. It feels like I’m falling and then all of a sudden my feet hit solid ground and I stumble. Derek’s hand tightens around mine, keeping me upright, and I get my first glimpse of where we are. There’s a river at the bottom of the canyon and the water is the clearest and brightest blue I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful and we have arrived just on sunset; the sun just sitting on the horizon throwing wonderful shades of light throughout the entire canyon. It’s bigger than I expected and photos simply can’t do it any justice.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

It’s all I can manage to say, the view is simply breathtaking. From the corner of my eye I see him smile at me, not his usual smug smile but a genuine smile that lights up his entire face. He clearly loves it here too.

“We should probably go. If we wait until its dark we might have a difficult time finding the entrance.”

All I really want to do it sit down on the edge, pull out my sketch pad and spend the next few hours just drawing everything that I see, but I’m going to be here a while so I’m bound to get plenty of opportunities.

I nod and follow close behind as he walks to the edge of the canyon. With a small hand gesture a sheet of rock juts out from the cliff face and he steps onto it. I follow, but not as confidently as he did; not that I’ll let him know that. The moment my feet hit the rock it begins to slide downward. It takes me by surprise and without thinking I reach out and grab hold of Derek’s arm.

“You know you’re holding onto me a lot today for someone who keeps acting like I’m the bane of their existence,” he teases.

I decide not to rise to that comment and let him go, walking as far toward the edge of our moving platform as I can and looking out at the view.

“I kind of just want to jump off,” I say. “Fly through the air and when I get over the river just let myself drop into it.”

“Sorry to put a damper on that desire, but Elementals can’t really fly,” he says, sounding truly sorry that I won’t be able to. Then I remember making myself float in the clearing and somehow I just know that, if I play with the air current just the right way, then I definitely can.

I take my backpack off, place it in the middle of the platform and walk back to the edge.

“Don’t,” Derek says, grabbing my hand for dear life as though I’m just going to jump headfirst into the canyon. “Just this once can you trust me, okay?”

Except I know I can do it.

“Maybe this time you should trust me.”

I turn, pulling my hand from his grip and looking right into his eyes. I let my mind wonder, picturing myself flying through the air and willing that burst of energy to flow through my veins, signalling that my magic is in use. When I feel it surge through my fingers and toes I let it carry me away. Moving my hands in small fanning motions, manipulating the air to hold my weight and I feel myself leave the platform. I hear Derek gasp and try to speak but I’m having too much fun to pay attention. I move faster and travel higher into the air and then let myself plummet, catching myself again before it’s too late. I can’t help myself, I laugh, pure joy. This is the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done, the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced and, for some reason, I want to share that with Derek. I fly back to the platform, which is about 100 metres below me at this point and land right beside him. I savour his expression, he looks completely stunned.

“Care to join me?” I say, holding my hand out to him.

“Join you? I can’t do that,” he says.

“You don’t have to, just take my hand and read my thoughts so you can see how I do it.”

He thinks it over for a minute before dropping his bag and taking my hand. I grin, I can’t help it; this is just so fun!

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Of course I don’t,” I reply. “You’re the ‘teaching assistant’ remember?”

Before he can reply I take to the air, this time moving the air currents to support Derek’s weight as well. It takes a little extra effort but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

“This is incredible Gwen! How did you know you could do this?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I remembered floating in the clearing and just somehow knew how I’d managed to do it then, so I just did again here. It’s fun isn’t it!”

I hear him chuckle beside me and decide to look into his mind for a change.

I see myself through his eyes, soaring through the air like some sort of super hero, and laugh to myself. It looks almost beautiful.

“We have an audience, shall we land and go say hi?”

Sure enough, at the bottom of the canyon where our platform has stopped, is a very tall, ridiculously built man who has my backpack slung over his shoulder. I begin to move us closer to the ground and decide to play a trick on Derek. I fly us over the river.

“Remember when I said I wanted to jump into the river?”

His hand tightens around mine and his thoughts ring loud and clear through my skull.

“Gwen, don’t you dare!”

Unfortunately for him, I dare. I let the air slacken around the both of us, letting us drop straight down from about fifty metres off the ground. I hear his sharp intake of breath as we head toward the water but, just before we break the surface, I catch us again. I fly us over to the river bank and double over, laughing hysterically.

“You should have seen your face!” I laugh.

He tries to look mad at me but he doesn’t manage it and begins to laugh too.

“I’m man enough to admit it, you got me.”

“She sure did! It was awesome!”

I didn’t even notice the man walk over to us. He’s a lot bigger than I thought. He has to be almost seven feet tall and his shoulders are so broad that I imagine he has a hard time walking through doors. I doubt he’d be able to fit in my house. He claps a hand onto Derek’s shoulder and grins at me.

“Gwen, this is Hank. He’s the Guardian who was assigned to me and trained me.”

“I’ve never seen anything like what you just did, Gwen. I can’t wait to get you into training! It’s going to be so much fun!”

“Uh, hi Hank,” I say, unsure about him but doing my best to keep an open mind. I shake his hand, his hand dwarfing mine, and we begin to walk back toward the platform.