Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Gwen

I haven’t even taken the key out of the ignition before he’s in my mind.

“So, Carmen seems nice.”

I ignore him. I’m not playing this game with him. I’m not giving him the satisfaction.

“The silent treatment, a little bit childish but I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

“I’m not giving you the silent treatment; I’m just not going to discuss Carmen with you. She isn’t any of your business and she doesn’t have anything to do with whatever it is that I am.”

I’m out of the car now and heading for the front door.

“You have a pretty quick temper,” he says. I’m standing right next to him unlocking the door, so I guess it’s convenient for him to speak out loud now. I disagree. I’m usually pretty mellow and easy going. It’s him. He puts me off, not that I’ll tell him that.

“I prefer to think of it as a swift reaction to bullshit. You crossed a line with Carmen. Keep out of her head.”

“Just a warning for the future, I jump into everyone’s mind at least once. I need to know what sort of people they are. It is part of my job as your Guardian.”

“Well you’ve been inside her mind once, so you can leave her alone now.”

I put my bag on the kitchen bench, kick off my shoes, take off my jacket and get comfortable on my three seater couch, my legs curled underneath me. I have a feeling the rest of my afternoon is going to go badly, so I might as well be comfortable.

“You said there were more things I needed to know,” I prompt. I’m incredibly curious; it isn’t every day that someone shows up out of nowhere and tells you that you’re part of some mythical, magical race.

“For a start, you and I need to figure out what else you can do and how well you can do it,” he says. “We’ll need to get started on that soon. You need to be in control of your abilities. We can’t have you setting restaurant furniture on fire every time someone annoys you.”

“That I can do, I don’t want to light my house on fire again.”

I manage to surprise him again.

“I didn’t expect you to agree to that so easily. You seem determined to fight me on everything else.”

I roll my eyes at him.

“This is actually important. It isn’t you fuelling your ego, it’s something I actually need to do.”

“Fuelling my ego,” he scowls, sitting on the edge of my coffee table. “You don’t think much of me do you?”

“So far you’ve done nothing but stalk me and invade my privacy. If you want me to have a higher opinion of you then give me a reason to. Now, what else should I know?”

“To figure out your abilities and test your limit’s we’ll need to head to a training facility and run you through some tests.”

“Training facility?! You guys have training facilities?”

“Of course we do. We don’t just wake up one morning in complete control of the elements and become competent fighters in the blink of an eye. We have teachers. Warriors, Guardians, Protectors and Healers who excel even in their own specialties. They take it on as their responsibility to teach, train and evaluate. Some of us take years, some of us just a few weeks, but either way we all pass through a training refuge somewhere along the line.”

Does this mean there’s some sort of Elemental Hogwarts?

“Where are the training facilities?”

“The one I’ll take you to is in the Grand Canyon.”

I was expecting him to direct me to a building somewhere. Like a secret base in the city. Apparently not.

“It’s a global landmark and popular tourist destination, someone would have noticed a bunch of Elementals running around and throwing fire at one another.”

“It’s a big canyon and the actual refuge is underground and hidden away.”

He wants me to just up and head to the other side of the world.

“When do you expect me to attend boot camp?”

“Soon, they would have felt your energy the same as I did and they know I’m with you. They’ll be expecting us to turn up probably within the next few days.”

“I just pack up and head to the US! I have family, friends and work! What will they think? They’ll think I’m crazy for all of a sudden heading to another continent with some random guy.”

“They won’t even know you’re gone,” he taps a finger to his temple and smirks. “Mind tricks. Work will still think you’re showing up for your shifts and your friends and family will still believe you’re calling to check in and even going out to sushi with Carmen.”

I don’t even know how to respond to that and I certainly don’t trust it. Just packing up to go play Elemental at some underground refuge within the Grand Canyon seems like an insane idea.

“You won’t be playing Elemental. You are an Elemental.”

“How will we get there?”

He disappears and reappears on the other side of the kitchen.

“Just like that, except instead of being in your house, we’ll be at boot camp, as you put it.”

Moving back into my living room he says “There isn’t anything to worry about with the training refuge. It’s all for your benefit, so you don’t accidentally kill someone or burn down a forest or something. You don’t have to stay there for the intense training, just long enough to get a suitable level of control and an understanding of your strength and limit’s.”

At the beginning of the week this guy was creeping me out by staring at me from outside my house, now I’m considering letting him teleport me across the globe so I can check out some training refuge and learn to use powers that I didn’t even know I had or even existed because I’m supposedly part of some random mythical race. On the plus side, my work and family won’t even know I’m gone. On the down side, they won’t know where I am and because they won’t know that I’m gone, they’ll have no idea if I don’t come back. But I have to go, don’t I?

“Fine, I’ll go.”

Derek is visibly relieved.

“But, I have a few questions before we leave.”

“I knew you would. Shoot.”

“Will I be going alone?”

“No. I’m your Guardian so I get to stay with you the whole time. I’ll serve as a sort of teaching assistant to whoever is assigned to train you,” his eyebrows draw together as he looks at me. “You’re not very happy with that.”

“We don’t exactly get along; it took genuine self-control not to run you over when I saw you on my front steps before.”

With that he smiles. I stand and go to the kitchen, trying to get a second to think.

“All of this because I got inside your friends head and agreed with her thoughts, huh?”

“Agreed with her?”

“I agree with her about your clothes. You definitely need some clothes that show you off. Those jeans though, you are spot on with those. She was right; your arse does look fantastic.”

I’m pretty sure my jaw just dropped so fast it shattered the kitchen tiles. He just laughs.

“Not used to compliments,” he grins. Arse hole. “Pack a bag, nothing fancy. Definitely those jeans and pack some shirts, just comfortable stuff, and we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

And he leaves, laughing and grinning all the way out the front door.