Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Gwen

I’m so tired. I wasn’t expecting today to take so much out of me. I just assumed that when Erin said ‘low energy’ that she meant just swishing the breeze or something. Instead I ended up flying five people though the air for HOURS. I didn’t even notice the time passing but I’ve definitely noticed now. I need sleep. My solid forty-eight hour sketch session has warn me out, which is probably why today took so much more out of me than I expected. I didn’t have a lot of energy to begin with. I’m heading down my hallway when I feel it. Someone standing so close to me, I can feel them breathing on the back of my neck. I whirl around, ready to grab whoever it is and force them back, but to my surprise I find an empty hallway. I blame sleep deprivation. I better get back to my apartment before I go totally nuts. I keep walking without incident and, finally, drag my tired butt to my door. I’m not even hungry. All I want is a hot shower and my bed. I bypass the kitchen completely. My shirts off before I’m even in the bathroom and I’m in the shower in record time. My favourite shampoo, conditioner and body wash are a welcome sight and it’s not long before I’m back out again and looking for pyjamas. I don’t even have the energy to search through drawers. I settle on underwear and a t-shirt and flop down onto my mattress. I’m amazed that the flowers that make up my bed (my whole apartment) never wilt or lose their beautiful scent. I drift off almost immediately with the soothing smell of lavender, jasmine, rose and a whole host of other floral aromas that I can figure out filling my senses and the smooth satiny feel of the flower petals that make up my sheets.

I’m woken by the shrill screeching of my alarm, it’s unexpected. Usually Derek is at my door before then. Oh well. I turn over to see that I’ve overslept and jump out of bed to find clothes for the day. Shorts, a black tank top and converse are the first things I grab. I frantically search for my glasses before remembering that I no longer need them and turn away to leave my apartment. I’m not looking where I’m going as I rush out the door and I run face first into Anya, knocking her off her feet.

“Oh my god, Anya, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking, I’m running late,” I say as I help her to her feet.

She stands and rubs her behind.

“It’s okay Gwen. We were just coming to get you,” she says.

We? I look behind Gwen to find Derek and Oliver stifling their laughter.

“Morning G,” says Oliver with a little wave.

“Hey guys, I didn’t see you there.”

“We noticed,” says Derek. “We were knocking on your door earlier but you must have been dead to the world.”

“I didn’t hear anything, I only woke up a few minutes ago,” I explain. I don’t want them thinking that I was avoiding them again. “How late are we?”

“We’re not late at all. We still have ten minutes before we have to meet Elijah. We really should get moving though,” Anya says with some pep in her voice. She doesn’t seem to be hurt anymore which eases my guilt.

“So what can you guys tell me about Elijah?”

I’m curious to know before I get there. I only met Elijah long enough for him to tell me his name on my first day here so I have no idea what he’s like.

“He’s nice,” supplies Anya. “A little bit on the quiet side but he’s great with his element. I think you’ll learn a lot from him.”

I nod. For some reason I was expecting to be told that he’s an ogre and I’m going to be miserable.

“Any idea what he’s going to have us doing today?”

“Not us G, you. I for one am hopeless with Earth. I make it shake and every now and then, if I concentrate hard enough, I can make it form a small mound at my feet. Other than that I’m no help here at all,” Oliver admits. He doesn’t seem embarrassed by it, just matter of fact.

“I’m in the same boat as Olly on this one. Earth is not my strong suit. I doubt I’ll be much help either,” says Anya. “Derek will be able to help though.”

She turns to Derek and laughs at the confused expression on his face.

“She’s joking,” he says. “I can do a little more than Tweedledee and Tweedledumb over here, but still the best I can do is move a small rock out of the way every now and then. I think for the most part we’ll just be on the side lines today.”

That doesn’t do anything to help my nerves. At least today I can say I’ve had enough sleep. I slept like a log last night. Not even a dream from 4:00pm to 8:00am. Best sleep of my life, I think.

We walk for another few minutes just chatting with each other when a very short, very petite man falls into step with us. He looks up to me with kind eyes and he looks so familiar, but I can’t put a name to the face.

’Good morning. I’m guessing that you are Guinevere?” he says, he has a soft and pleasant voice.

My little group comes to a stop and I reach out to shake his outstretched hand.

“Oh, just Gwen. Hello, I’m sorry but I don’t who you are,” I reply, feeling incredibly rude. He flashes a kind smile and motions for us to keep walking.

“My name is Elijah,” he says and I immediately recognize him. “We met briefly on your first day here. I’ve heard some interesting things about you.”

How are people hearing things about me all the time? Is there a daily meeting? Are memos flying around that I don’t know about? He interprets my silence for what it is.

“Oh no, don’t worry. Just things from Hank, Jasper and Erin; people who have been working with you,” he reassures me. “Nothing too drastic, just about what abilities you’ve displayed so far.”

He opens the door to my arena and motions for us to walk in. We walk past the forest I made on Sunday last week and over to the large waterfall that must be here for when I start my water training. I think my trainers name is Rhea. We follow Elijah as he walks closer to the wall, steps behind the waterfall and disappears. We follow and I find myself staring at something that I really did not expect to be so beautiful. We’ve stepped into a cave, not a dank and damp cave, but a cave lined with time worn boulders that shine and precious gems that glint in the walls. It’s a huge underground cavern that’s lit by torches that glow with a bright light, clearly powered by some sort of magic. I walk to the centre of the cavern and just take it all in. I can see gems of every colour shining in the walls and I can’t even see the ceiling, the torches don’t light that far. I hear the soothing sound of running water coming from the waterfall and I can feel so many vibrations through the walls and floor. I trace them to their sources. Ants and other insects foraging for food, people walking throughout the refuge; I can even feel the movement of tyres across asphalt in the far distance and feel that there are five people crammed into that one small car. They’re listening to something with a heavy bass line, I can feel it. All these vibrations seem to be magnified here. I hear someone gently saying my name and open my eyes to see Elijah standing directly in front of me. I have to look down to see his face. I must have spaced again but thankfully he doesn’t seem mad.

I apologise.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” I say.

“That’s okay, I didn’t want to interrupt but you’ve been following those vibrations for close to an hour now,” he says, smiling up at me.

I look to my friends with what I’m sure is a look of surprise.

“It didn’t feel like an hour,” I say. “It only felt like a minute or so. Why are you guys holding hands?” I add that as an afterthought.

The weird site just registered in my mind.

“Olly and I are not that great with mind reading so Derek helped. We all watched through your mind. It was quite the show,” explains Anya.

They were in my head. I slam my defences back into place and see a look of surprise, and maybe even hurt, cross Derek’s face as I eject him from my thoughts. I didn’t say they could be in my head. Derek and I are going to have a serious conversation about boundaries. It’s bad enough that I already have someone trying to mess around in there without worrying if any of my friends are messing around in there as well.

“Yes, it was rather fascinating,” continues Elijah, seemingly oblivious to my mood swing. “That was quite a natural thing for you to do. You followed each vibration to its source without incident, not even getting confused and accidentally switching to another track. It was marvellous. One day you will have to show me how you do it,” he finishes with ill-concealed glee.

He moves further into the cavern and with a swift flick of his wrists summons the boulders from around the walls and forms them into a tight circle.

“For now, however, I’ll ask you to step within the circle so we can begin todays training,” he says as he points to where he wants me to stand.

I do as I’m asked. I move to the centre of the circle of boulders and wait for his instructions.

“We are going to start with a few basic things today.” He says once I’m in position. “For a start, I would like you to move the boulder in front of you back over to the wall.”

He looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to act. He hasn’t shown me what to do, how do I move a boulder? I freeze, thinking about what he’s expecting me to do, and then feel a gentle nudge against my mind. Derek is asking for permission and I give just enough for me to hear his voice but not enough for him to get inside my head.

“Trust your magic, just like you did yesterday when you had all of us flying through the air. All you have to do was let it flow. Remember how you explained it to me when you were trying to teach me how to fly? It just came naturally and felt right. Access that and the rest will come too.”

Derek’s advice is what I need. I got caught up in what people were expecting of me, I forgot how it felt to just let loose. So that’s what I do. I feel the marks on my forearms come to life for the first time in days and I feel that ecstatic rush go through my body. I haven’t felt this alive in what feels like forever. I feel a slight movement across my forearms and know that if I look down I will see the pattern expanding up my arm. This time I welcome it, it doesn’t worry me anymore. It’s just my magic becoming a solid part of me and I understand that now. These boulders don’t stand a chance. I raise my palm and flick my wrist in a similar way to how I saw Elijah do it and all of the boulders, there are at least twenty of them, glide gracefully back to their starting positions. With my task accomplished I look down at my arms. Flowing water has connected to vines and the vines have now connected to the same intricate fractal design, only this time, the delicate lines are made of vibrantly coloured gems. Each section and every different swirl is made from a different precious gem stone. I don’t even want to think about the net value of the diamond, let alone the rest of the gems. I feel a hand on my elbow and see that Elijah has come over to get a better look. He’s bent so low, looking at the underside of my arm, that I’m worried he might fall over.

“Fascinating,” he says in a squeaky voice. That’s all he says, just one word. After several long minutes he looks up, seeming a little perplexed.

“Well, I’m going to have to review everything I had planned for your lessons over the coming weeks,” he finally says. “I wasn’t expecting you to be able to move one boulder even a tiny bit, let alone all twenty at the same time all the way across the cavern. I underestimated you.”

I don’t know what to say. I hate that I’m such a freak here. Everything that I do, everything that still feels so new and natural to me, seems to leave everyone staring at me like I’m some sort of alien. They look at me like I’m a whole new species for them to study.

“I’m sorry,” he continues. “But that’s all I had planned for today. I will figure out a more demanding lesson for next time but for today I suppose you’re free to go.”

He walks away, muttering to himself about logistics, tricks and powers and I’m left to stand there wondering what just happened.

“Don’t worry, you’re not the only one confused here,” says Derek.

It’s been two hours. It is literally ten thirty in the morning, and I’m done for the day. I’m wide awake! What am I supposed to do?

We walk down the corridors, discussing what we could all do for the rest of the day, when I round the corner and, for the second time this morning alone, walk straight into someone. Thankfully this someone is Garret and he doesn’t fall over.

“Oh Garret, sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“Not a problem,” he says. “Shouldn’t you be with Elijah?”

He gives me a teacher look. You know the kind; the one that says ‘do you have permission to be out here right now?’

“I was,” I explain. “We finished early.”

I hear a snort from beside me.

“Don’t be modest G,” pipes in Oliver. “She blew Elijah’s mind and left him scrambling for something to do, so he let her go and said he’d have to update his training methods. He underestimated her.”

He grins and I blush.

“He’s exaggerating,” I murmur.

“I don’t think he is,” says Garret, he looks thoughtful for a moment before continuing. “Well, maybe you’d all like to come with me? If you outdid Elijah than I imagine I might have to make a few adjustments to my training for tomorrow. See if we can get a head start today so that we can be more efficient in the future?”

I’m stoked. I feel a massive grin break out over my face. Working with plants and animals has been the thing I’m most excited for and now I get to start early!

“Lead the way!”