Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Derek

My mood has skyrocketed. I can’t really pin point why, but I think it’s because of Gwen. One minute I’m sitting in my room, the next Gwen is letting me into her place wearing nothing but a towel. Not that that’s why I’m in such a good mood, I think it’s because Gwen was laughing and joking around. She seemed comfortable in her apartment and I’m not really sure, but, was she flirting?! And she let me look through her sketch book, hell she let me sit in her bed! As we leave her apartment I decide to ask her why. She said to just say what was on my mind and she seems to be in a more open mood today, so I don’t see how this could go wrong.

“So, you’re in a better mood today. You seem a little more comfortable, what changed?”

She takes a moment to think before replying, more than a moment. Just as I think she’s going to ignore the question completely, she answers.

“I’m not too sure. I feel better here. The apartment Garret put together feels like more of a home than my actual house and this place just feels comfortable. It’s relaxing. The only thing I’m not sure about is the people, but so far the only issues I’ve had are those people who sat at the table with us yesterday and I’m perfectly capable of handling their petty crap.”

I’m a little surprised by her honesty and decide to get as much information out of her as I can. She hasn’t exactly been forthcoming before today.

“Why are you telling me? You haven’t really wanted to talk to me about anything this entire time and yet this morning you went so far as to let me into your apartment wearing just a towel and you even let me see your sketches.”

“I seem to be stuck with you,” she playfully nudges me again. “So we may as well get to know each other. Trying to push someone away who is insistent upon being a part of everything you do is just exhausting. Besides, you aren’t as off putting as you were that morning outside my house. And about the towel thing, don’t expect that every time you knock on my door. I wasn’t expecting you to run to my place the second I spoke to you. You got there pretty fast, even for someone who’s only across the hall and two doors down.”

“Yup, nice and close so I can keep an eye on you.”

“Good to know.”

“Is it now?”

“Yes, now I can show up unexpected and annoy you; get a little pay back for the last week. I’m also curious to see what your place looks like. You said it was like a volcano?”

“I’ll show it to you later and, for the record, having you show up randomly wouldn’t annoy me; especially if you rocked up wearing a towel.” I might be pushing it here but I can’t help it. She’s in such a great mood and I like joking around with her. She surprises me by laughing.

“Wishful thinking will get you nowhere with that.”

Wishful thinking is an understatement. I haven’t really felt anything for anyone since the day the Recruiters tried to kidnap me and killed Claire, not for any reason in particular, I’ve just been too busy training and working.

“Wishful thinking is an understatement,” I mumble to her as we walk into the main entrance. Her eyes go round and her eyebrows shoot into her hairline, shock written all over her face. She tries to cover up her surprise by asking where we’re going.

“I’m going to show you the different training rooms. There are different areas designed for training with each of the elements, plus areas devoted to combat training and plant and animal stuff. You’re going to love them,” leaning down again I say; “I’ll teach you a few tricks while we’re there.”

She’s been playing around with my innuendos all morning, so let’s see what she does with that one. She doesn’t disappoint, she looks me straight in the eye and says;

“You’ve never seen any of my tricks before, maybe I’ll end up teaching you.”

I find that I’m rather looking forward to today.

As promised, I show Gwen a few small things in each room that we go to. She picks them up immediately and when we get to the air room, an area set up atop a cliff at the highest point of the canyon where we can get the strongest winds, I ask her to show me how to fly.

“You were in my head yesterday while we were flying, did you see anything that could help you do it too?”

“I saw how you did it, but I didn’t really understand it. Can you explain it to me?”

“I don’t really know how to. The best thing I can think to say is to redirect the air around you. You know how in a strong enough wind, you can lean into it and it will hold your weight?” I nod, yes. “Well, it’s sort of like that, but you keep moving the air around you so it blows you in whichever direction you want to go and keep a continuous updraft so that you don’t fall.”

I think it over for a moment but I’m still not sure about it.

“Could you show me? Maybe seeing it again will help.”

“Uh, sure. Just jump into my head and tell me where you want me to go.”

So I do, restraining myself from looking too deep and reading through her thoughts from this morning’s playful conversations.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

“Yes, fly up and go out over the canyon.”

“Okay, do you want me to explain as I go, or just do it?”

“Just do it,” I say. “If I have any questions I can ask later.”

She takes off without another word. I watch through her eyes as she moves the air, letting it wrap around her body, and then putting a little force behind it to lift her up. Within a few seconds she is hovering over the edge of the cliff face.

“Fly to the right.”

She does, and this time I understand how. She does exactly what she said she did, she moves the air to the other side of her body, sort of changing the direction of the wind around her and having it move her.

“That’s right,” She says, coming to land in front of me.

Speaking out loud she says;

“Give it a go.”

I’m excited to try it.

“Okay, but be ready to catch me in case I stuff up.”

“You’re the ‘teaching assistant’ champ,” she says, reminding me of a comment she’d made before, only this time she’s said it with a smile and as a joke.

I grin at her, trying to get as much out of her good mood as possible.

“Don’t go over the edge of the cliff. Just stay here on solid ground and don’t go too far into the air if you aren’t confident about being able to keep yourself up there.”

“Yes Ma’am,” I say as I begin to feel the air around me. My best elements are air and fire, so hopefully I can do this without making a fool of myself.

I picture the air as she did, wrapping it around my body and willing it to lift me up. Nothing happens.

“Don’t think about it as though you are forcing the air to bend to your will. Just think of it becoming a part of you and let it do the rest.”

“It’s an element. How can it do anything? Our power comes from being able to influence them.”

I feel confusion run though her mind and look up at her as she begins to explain.

“Doesn’t your power come from being able to form a connection between your energy and theirs? It feels like more of a symbiotic relationship than a submissive one. You breathe more life into the element and the element lends you its strength. It’ll be easier if you aren’t trying to force it.”

She has such a unique outlook that it distracts me.

“What do you mean? We aren’t taught to use the elements like that.”

“You aren’t? That’s how it feels for me. When I think of using the elements I get this huge rush of energy, like the element has replaced the blood in my veins and filled them with their own power. It isn’t like that for you?” She seems genuinely confused, and so am I. The only rush of energy I’ve ever felt is when I transport myself between locations, but I’ve always thought that was more the fact that I was moving hundreds of miles in the space of a few seconds.

“No, it isn’t. I’m not sure if that’s just me though.”

“Would you like to see?” she asks.

“How am I going to see that?”

“Get inside my head, before I try using an element and then with you there I’ll do something, so you can feel it.”

“So, I’m in here,” I smirk. “Show me what you’ve got.”

And she does, knocking me straight out of her head as an enormous and glorious blaze of energy shoots through her entire body.

“Whoa!”

She walks over to me, grinning more with every step.

“Did you feel it?”

“Yes, and I have no idea what it was.”

“Neither do I, but it’s amazing. I love it! This whole place is great, thank you for showing me.”

I’m grinning now, I can’t help it. This is the first time I’ve seen her actually excited to be here.

“If you guys are done, I have a training session to start.”

My head whips around to the source of the voice and I see Erin standing at the entrance, a huge smile on her face.

“Sorry Erin, we’ll get out of your hair.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was going to be here or I would have left sooner,” says Gwen, still a little startled by Erin’s sudden appearance.

“No need to worry, I would have kicked you out before but I was watching what you were doing. You’ll have to show me some time,” she says, winking at Gwen.

We leave as a small group of people begin walking in, including Carrie and her group from the food court yesterday who make a few snide remarks as we pass.

“So you think you’re special enough to just come in here and interrupt everyone else’s schedule, do you?” Carrie sneers. “You think you can just walk around here and do what you want?”

I wait for Gwen’s reply, undoubtedly a good one.

“ Yes, actually, but if you’re so worried then I guess I can ask Erin if I can join in. I’m sure she’d love to have me in there to teach you a few things.”

I laugh and receive the dirtiest look from Carrie. I was her Guardian before I handed her over to someone else because I had to go help out at another refuge. I guess she’s still a little bitter about it.

“That’s not funny Derek, she has no respect for any of us!”

“Actually, I merely don’t have respect for you and your group of immature children.”

“What did you just say!” yells Jarrod, stepping closer to Gwen, standing almost toe to toe and bending down over her, trying to use his height to intimidate her. Gwen isn’t ruffled at all. I don’t see this going too well and I want to step in, but I know Gwen is more than capable of handling herself, so I just stand aside and let her.

“Step back Jarrod,” she says. “You’re being an idiot.”

“You don’t have any respect; you’re just a bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone else.”

Erin walks out to see what’s going on and I stop her as she goes to step in.

“Let Gwen handle this.” I show her the memory of how this confrontation started and what happened yesterday and see Erin smile as she comes to stand by me to watch.

“I don’t have respect for you because you’ve done absolutely nothing to show me that you deserve it. As for thinking I’m better than everyone else, it was you guys who came and told me to ‘watch and learn’ because you guys are simply ‘the best in your training classes.’ Now, how about you walk away? You’re making Erin wait and you’re pissing me off.”

“No, I’ve just decided I don’t want you to respect me; I want you to fear me. Being afraid of me will keep you in line.”

And that’s when he throws a punch, and misses completely as Gwen easily steps out of its way.

“Are you finished?” she asks.

“No,” he replies, fire erupting from his hands and shooting toward Gwen. I try to block it but it’s a powerful blast and Gwen is standing too close to Jarrod for me to get between them. To everyone’s surprise the fire doesn’t seem to be affecting Gwen. Looking closer, I see that her eyes have become lava again and, just like in her house, the flames are surrounding her. They almost look like they’re protecting her.

“Erin, look at her eyes.”

I hear Erin gasp, a sharp intake of breath as she looks at Gwen, and I know she’s seen.

Jarrod has seen too, his shock causing him to stop trying to light Gwen on fire.

In turn, Gwen allows the lava to leave her eyes and fixes her gaze on Jarrod.

“That was just childish,” she says.

“What did you do with your eyes?”

She steps forward and punches him so hard he flies into the hard, rock wall behind him.

“Why the hell would I tell you?” Turning to Carrie she says;

“It’s been a pleasure, I look forward to the next time you decide to make fools of yourselves,” she looks at me. “Where are we going now?” she grins.

I grin too, happy to see her good mood hasn’t evaporated. We say goodbye to Erin and leave.

“You should have seen their faces when your eyes lit up!”

“I felt it this time, my eyes I mean. That was surprisingly fun.” She seems a little shy as we continue walking back towards the food court and a quick peek at her thoughts tells me why.

“You aren’t going to be in any trouble for that. This isn’t high school; there isn’t any sort of discipline for stuff like that. Unless you seriously hurt or kill someone then you can pretty much feel free do what you want. Even if there was, he’d be in the shit, not you. He tried to burn you alive so he deserved everything you gave him back there.”

She visibly relaxes and her grin creeps back onto her face.

“So, I’ve seen the fire, water, earth and air rooms, the food court, the main lobby and even taken a short flight through a new part of the canyon. What room do I get to explore next.”

“My room.”

For some reason I get a little nervous when I say it, it’s not like people have never seen my room before. She pauses for a second but recovers quickly and nods.

“You did say you’d show me today. I’m pretty excited about them; I’ve never seen rooms like the ones you guys create here. If I could I’d go and look at everyone’s.”

We walk in silence after that, a small knot of tension forming in my chest as we get closer.

Gwen finally speaks as we get to my apartment.

“So you said it was sort of like the inside of a volcano, but wouldn’t that be horrible? It would be really hot and probably smell really badly of sulphur.”

“Nope, you’ll see.”

I press my hand to my door, carved from a black wood to look like a solidified lava flow, and let it swing open. I usher her inside and watch as she takes it in.

There are no lights in my apartment, just a wall in each room that looks like a waterfall made of lava that lights the entire room and a panel of rock that can move from the ceiling to limit the amount of lava showing, limiting the light.

“It’s actually really cool in here, how did they do that? That lava must be several hundred degrees, but the room couldn’t be more than 25 degrees.”

“It’s a fire trick. Get the lava to flow and stay liquid no matter what temperature it is. It’s certainly not the science you’re used to; it’s elemental magic at its finest.”

“This place is incredible.”

“You haven’t seen the whole apartment yet, the bedroom is even better.”

A strange expression passes over her features and is gone almost as soon as it appeared, her smile faltering for just a second. I move toward my bedroom door and open it, walking in and waiting for her to follow. She does, and pauses in the doorway.

My room is similar to hers; instead of a beautiful lake full of lily pads I have a huge pool of lava with a bed in the centre made of black rock and a mattress of soft ash that never compacts, never sticks to me and never moves as well as black and red satin sheets and pillows.

“You only have a satin sheet. What if you get cold?”

In response I wave my hand and heat the lava and, at the same time, heat the room.

“I live in an apartment made from lava, there’s no shortage of heat sources.”

“I guess I should have thought about that.”

She seems both at ease and uncomfortable at the same time, which makes the knot in my stomach tighten. I decide it’s best to leave, I’ve been enjoying the way we’ve spoken today and I don’t want her to go back to hating me just yet.

“Should we go to the food court? It’ll be dinner soon and it gets really crowded.”

The tension in her shoulders disappears and she nods, already moving toward the door.

I can’t stand the tension; I slip into her mind hoping she’s too distracted to notice. I see nothing, she’s blocking her thoughts, clearly not wanting me to see whatever she’s been thinking about since we got to my place. Once we sit down at an empty table against the back wall, which I chose so that no one would be able to eavesdrop on our conversation, I confront her about it.

“Alright, let me have it. Something is bothering you, you’ve blocked me from looking at it and it’s driving me insane.”

Her expression becomes guarded and her shoulders tighten as the tension returns, but worse than that, she doesn’t say anything!

“Gwen, how bad could it be?”

“I don’t think it’s bad, just awkward for me and also not something I want to discuss in public, or at all for that matter.”

“Okay then, not in public, fine.”

I pick up our food and stand.

“Where are you going, Derek?”

“Back to your apartment; I want to know what’s going through that head of yours.”

And with that I walk towards the exit, ignoring the alarmed look that flashes through her eyes.

We get to her door and I wait for her to open it, only she doesn’t and we are left standing awkwardly in the hallway.

“Gwen, you’re the only one that can open this door, remember?”

“I haven’t opened it because I don’t want to have this conversation.”

“Well, whatever it is, we’re not going to work it out if you don’t open the door.”

She does, reluctantly, and makes a beeline for the kitchen; burying her head in the fridge and pulling out two bottles of water. We sit down at her table and eat and I wait for her to talk, guilty about pushing her but too anxious to just let it go now.