The Elementals

Surprisingly enough, it’s the lack of the noise that wakes me up. I pull off the stuffy helmet gratefully and see everyone else stirring sleepily as well.

“Are we here?” I ask Oh’Rian impatiently, my mild claustrophobia getting to me. “Can I get out?”

Oh’Rian shakes her head. “If by “here”, you mean the harbor, then yes, we are in fact here.”

I nudge everybody on the way out, though the jolt of the door sliding open should do the trick. Jumping down to the ground, I breathe in. I instantly love it. I can hear the waves from the ocean lapping at the shore and smell the salt in the air.

“Sleep well princess?” Caelum hops down next to me.

“Fine. Great, actually.” I say, though I’m not sure if it was the rest, or the close proximity to the water. Not even that nickname can bother me.

“There’s a secret tunnel around here somewhere…” Oh’Rian mutters, pacing around. “I know there is.”

There wasn’t.

After a while of lazing around -which I did appreciate, but not for five hours- it’s almost dusk. I walk up to Oh’Rian. “We need food.” She looks up at me, and the impatient frustration in her eyes makes me reconsider my tone. “I mean, we’re hungry. We can come back tomorrow morning.”

“Fine.” She agrees after a pause where I was pretty sure she’d go rabid on me. “There’s a burger place in the center of town.”

I cheer silently on the inside. “Come on people!” I shout to the others and they look up eagerly. “We’re getting some chow, then coming back tomorrow. Sound good?” I see nods of agreement. I look at Oh’Rian. “Lead the way.”

She starts striding to the street. We follow her like ducks. When we finally reach the restaurant, it occurs to me that we look like a mismatched band of Goth kids, ninjas, mimes, and small little chess pieces.

“Umm, should we wait here?” I ask Oh’Rian and she nods.

“They know me.” She walks through the door and the rest of us shrink back into the alleys in between the buildings.

I’m close to following after her and the amazing smells wafting from the kitchen window we’re conveniently sitting under, when Oh’Rian appears around the corner, holding a tray stacked with every kind of American junky fast food there is on the planet.

“Dibs on the cheeseburger,” I say, rushing forward, followed by a stampede of six hungry orphans.

I snatch the hot foiled deliciousness and a box of fries while the others fight over the shrimp and duck into an alleyway for some quiet. I take a second to breathe in the scent of warm, cooked, meat. I’m in heaven. The fries are too hot, and burn my mouth, but I still scarf them down. The hamburger is gone just as fast.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you wanted junk food.” Oh’Rian says, an amused smile on her face, appearing in front of me.

“Nope,” I move over so she can sit down next to me. Something scratches my hand. I pull back my sleeve and see a tag with a complex black and electric blue logo on it. It looks like a couple of intertwining Greek letters. “Who puts a tag on someone’s sleeve?” I ask out loud.

“Is that rhetorical?” Oh’Rian laughs but then she looks at the symbol and her eyes widen. She jumps to her feet, smacking her forehead. “That’s where it is!”

“Where what is?” I ask, standing up more slowly. She doesn’t answer and races off. “Okay,” I mutter and step out of the alley. “Stella, you’re in charge.” I say and she nods as I dash after Oh’Rian.

I soon realize she’s going back to the wharf we landed at. I slow down and hear footsteps behind me.

“Please tell me she doesn’t do this all the time.” Caelum says, stopping next to me.

“Why, you tired?” I ask, trying to steady my own breathing.

“No, but I will be if she keeps sprinting off like that.”

I see Oh’Rian dashing through the yellow glow of the street lamps, back and forth. I walk towards her. “Are you alright?” I call and she pauses, but only for a second.

“I saw it, I know I did.” She says.

“Saw what?” Caelum asks, as confused as I am.

“The logo,” She points emphatically at my arm. I look at the tag again, and start searching for the symbol anywhere. I’m not sure what it’s for, but it’s better than doing nothing.

“Here!” Oh’Rian cries happily and I look towards the sound of her voice. She’s triumphantly holding a lobster trap buoy that’s white on one side, and has the logo on the other. There’s another keypad behind it and Oh’Rian hurriedly opens the door.

I pause before I follow her, wondering whether I should go back and get everyone else. The question is answered when they appear from in between some buildings, led by Stella.

“We found the entrance,” I jab my thumb back at the door. Under my breath, “Apparently.”

I follow Oh’Rian through the tunnel, Sparky at my heels. It’s dark, but it only dips slightly, not enough to go completely underground. I step out of the passageway and, despite myself, have a prompt attraction. The building the room is located under was one of those old factories that dumped waste into the ocean. The ceilings are high and the last bits of sunlight seep through the clouded skylights, bouncing off the metal walls and giving the boat in the center a golden glow. There’s a trench running through the middle of the place, ending at a large door that probably goes out into the harbor.

Sounds echo around the large space, exclamations of awe, tapping footsteps, and the ever present lapping of waves off the boat. The pattern of the ripples in the water is reflected onto the roof, making it seem like we’re underwater. I walk to the railing along the boat pool, giving a soft whistle of admiration.

I hop the fence and drop onto the water, a layer of ice keeping me from sinking. I half walk, half skate to the boat and clamber on. It’s a nice one, I have to admit. There’s a cover over the wheel and then stairs to a lower deck. I duck under and see some foldable beds, a sink, a bathroom and a mini-fridge. I peer through the small portholes at the way the light fractures as it filters through the water. I climb back up to the deck.

“What are you waiting for?” I shout and freeze a thicker pathway to the boat from the ramps at the edges of the pool. “Come on!” I walk back across to Oh’Rian. “Sparky and Maple should probably have life jackets.” I say, “You know, just in case.” Oh’Rian nods and points to a room off to the side.

I walk over to it and find a surplus of black life jackets. Pulling out the smallest ones, I turn and almost run into Caelum.

“We’re leaving?” He asks, seeming kind of worried. “Right now?”

“Yup. Better to get going as fast as possible.” I reply, “Is that a problem?”

He shifts. “No, but we could use the rest, and maybe some more food.” It sounds like more of a question, like he’s trying to convince himself rather than me.

I laugh. “You can sleep on the boat. And we can fish and stuff. I’m not called Tide for nothing.” I expect him to smile, but his face is troubled. “What’s wrong?”

“I just think it would be a better idea to wait, and plan and things.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, it just seems like a good idea…” He trails off. “I mean, it’s almost night, we shouldn’t be going out in the dark.”

“If it means less people, then it is good. Come on.” I try to walk past him, but he stops me.

“Can’t we just wait a bit more? A few hours at most.” I’m surprised by the somewhat pleading tone in his voice.

He looks a little scared. Of what I don’t know. Then it dawns on me. “You get sea sick, don’t you?”

He looks at me blankly for a second, then nods vigorously. “Yes. Can we please wait?”

I feel slightly bad, but we need to move. The faster we get to that island, the faster I can stop sleeping with one eye open. “I can make the waves smaller. You’ll be fine.” I say reassuringly, and walk out of the room unquestionably.

As usual, Sparky and Maple are racing around hyperactively, and everyone else is scattered, trying to collect them. After letting them suffer my pain for a minute or two, I whistle sharply. Maple skids to a stop and Sparky runs into her, their heads turned towards me expectantly. I motion for them to get on the boat. They obediently follow, grabbing the life jackets and chasing each other onto the deck. The others file on slowly, chattering. I move to the end of the line, where Coal is.

I cough, glancing down. “Are you coming?”

He pauses and I start to panic that he’s not, but he looks long and hard at me. “Yes.” That one word sends relief through me as well as a course of chills that aren’t the bad kind, just sort of leave my body tingling.

“Okay,” I say, and noticing something, stand on my tiptoes, looking around the room. “Have you seen Caelum?”

Instantly, Coal’s body goes rigid. “No,” He mutters and walks onto the boat. More like stomps; I can see the cracks in the ice.

I try to shake the feeling off. I spot Caelum coming out from the life jacket room. “Hurry up,” I tease. “We almost left without you.”

“Right,” He says, but there’s still that concerned expression on his face. I can’t place my finger on exactly what it looks like. It’s not quite fear, but certainly not calm.

We walk onto the boat. Oh’Rian is at the wheel, but I come up next to her. “I think I got this one.” I say, “Open the secret door thing.”

She nods after a look of doubt crosses her face, and I catch her rolling her eyes at my ever so descriptive vocabulary. She presses a few codes into the dashboard of the boat, and the door starts lurching open with a slightly disconcerting groan. Instead of holding the wheel spokes, I just stand there, breathing in the smell of the ocean. It feels so good using my powers, especially since they seem almost magnified by the salt water. Maybe it’s just the pent up energy. I hear the slap of waves pushing against the boat. I let the currents pull us out of the pool and into the harbor. The warehouse is located at the end little tip of the land, so we’re out of danger of hitting any other boats in no time.

The sun has set, and the sky is a dark navy color so it’s hard to tell where the horizon line is. There are these weird things floating in the water though, just ahead a bit. Black and bulky ships all lined up in a sort of wall in front of us. I squint, trying to make out what exactly they are. I’m not sure whether to slow down or speed up. I leave the wheel and poke my head outside for a better view. I can tell that the things are boats.

Anger starts to fill me as I race out on the deck and look over the bow. I can just make out a person, on the bow of the opposite boat, smiling and waving in a hatefully familiar, cold, I’m-an-evil-psycho, way.

Izila Franklin.

Emotions churn inside me. Mostly a clouding anger that blurs my vision. I grip the railing to keep myself from leaping off and murdering everything within a mile radius. My knuckles are white and there’s a coldness in my core that isn’t from the icy ocean water spraying in my face.

I hear a sharp cry and whip around. Some of Izila’s men have grabbed Stella and more are boarding the boat and snatching everyone else. It’s too fast for me to do anything. They came up in smaller dinghies, while I was distracted. Within seconds, there’s a gun at each person’s back, and about twelve pointed at me.

“Oh you don’t have to do that; she won’t attack as long as you have the others.” Oh’Rian says, brushing by the soldiers and waving aside their gun barrels.

I can only step away in shock as Oh’Rian pushes past me and throws a rope to the boat Izila is on. The deck shakes as the two vessels collide gently. Oh’Rian steps over to the other boat and stands next to Izila. I feel a sense of disbelief and then it freezes over to disgust. I don’t say anything, just stare, motionless, at Oh’Rian, hoping she feels all the guilt in the world. Izila smiles at me, lipstick looking like blood against her pale face. Vampire lady.

“What are you doing here?” Izila asks Oh’Rian apprehensively.

“Mother,” Oh’Rian says, holding a touch of cold satisfaction in her voice, “I had to run away to have them trust me. Surely you can understand.”

“Hmm,” Izila says, moving her hand forebodingly along the rail, her long, bony fingers tracing sharp spiral patterns. The way she moves is like a china doll. Slowly, carefully, like she could crack at any minute. I know she can strike like a cobra though. “What a wonderful surprise. I was hoping you would see my point of view someday. You always were such a…good hearted girl.”

“I still am,” Oh’Rian spins and wind rushes past me. I have the time to feel a slight rise of hope and elation, but then Izila zips away and Oh’Rian’s knees suddenly buckle and she slams to the deck. The wind dies quickly as she tries to get up, but it’s like there’s a sack of bricks on top of her.

Izila cackles shortly. “You didn’t really think I believed that? I know all about your little powers.”

A cold feeling creeps up my spine. It takes a minute for the shock to pass and the pain of the stab of betrayal through my chest to fade enough so I can breathe right. I turn slowly. “You.”