The Elementals

Terra is still talking— something about crazy forest squirrels— but I’m not paying attention. Coal is acting really weird. I tense as more people come flying out of the trees. Fifteen men in hunter jackets with glasses and radios on their ears. They look like clones.

“Government?” I squeak out.

Coal nods, already in a defensive stance. I get the feeling that Coal will stand and fight, but Breeze and Terra tend choose the flight instinct. I copy Coal and watch as the men fan out, trying to surround us. One of them talks into their radio, looking at me. My presence seems to confuse them.

I feel heat from Coal’s skin and back away. With a yell, flames jump off his hands and burn a protective barrier in front of the agents. I see them back away quickly before the fire rises into a wall. Terra and Breeze have their mouths open. It’s straining him though, the effort of consistently keeping up the blaze with nothing to fuel it.

“Breeze!” I shout over the crackling of the inferno. “You know how to use your wind powers right?” She looks at me, her eyes full of fear but still determined, and nods. “Blow on the fire to help keep it burning,” I tell her.

Nervously, she closes her eyes. I feel a strong gust of wind whoosh by me.

“Gently! Or it’ll go out!” I yell hastily.

She nods again, but barely, like she’s unsure. I cross my fingers that my plan will work. The strength of the wind lessens, and then spreads. The fire wall roars up, feeding off the oxygen. Coal relaxes and nods quick thanks.

“Yeah?”

I was about to yell to Terra, but she’s way ahead of me. “When the barrier comes down, I need you to shake the guys off their feet, ok?”

“Can do,” she says, surprisingly short. “Tell me when.”

“Coal! Breeze!” They look at me. Coal is holding up alright, but Breeze looks drawn out and worn. “On three, let down the wall. Got it?”

Coal nods, understanding my idea. Breeze looks downright grateful to be able to stop.

“One! Two! Three!” I shout and the familiar rush of energy flows through my body.

The flames diminish and I feel the ground tremble beneath me and see that Terra has her foot down, and the guys are getting the worst of it, falling to their knees and tumbling into each other.

My turn.

I bring my hands to my side and then shove them outward. I feel the lake move with me and water surges up and over our heads. It breaks, like huge wave, and crashes, foaming around the men’s feet.

Freeze.

The clearing becomes eerily quiet as the water ices over. The frost hardens the flood into a block, trapping the agents’ legs and hands. I straighten, surveying the damage. The ground has slight crack lines running through it, the trees are still being buffeted by the last bit of wind, and half of the men have singed eyebrows and the other half burned jackets. Both Breeze and Terra look shaken. Breeze looks like a ghost her face is so pale.

That’s when things go wrong.

More of the agent clones come pouring out of the woods. They must have spikes on their black combat boots because not even one of them slips on the ice. A few men with blow torches bend down and start defrosting the others, but the rest surround us and move in.

Neither Breeze nor Terra is in a condition for a battle. I look at Coal and his face shows he will go down fighting. His hands ignite and the men focus on him. I use this time to create a dome of ice over Breeze and Terra. They look thankful, if that’s even possible when your face is twisted in terror.

Coal is in a barely concealed panic, throwing fireballs everywhere, but there are just too many people. I run to help him and we hold the men off for a while, freezing and burning them at the same time. It works surprisingly well. I can predict Coal’s movements just as he can mine.

Slowed down by the ice on their clothes, their attacks are less coordinated. Coal burns the ground around us so the men are hopping around in pain. I spray some water on the charred earth, and the cover of the steam gives us the chance to kick the guys’ legs out from under them. But no matter how many enemies lie in the dirt, more keep coming.

Then I hear shattering ice. The agents have broken the dome. Terra is trying to protect Breeze but it’s no use. Within seconds they’ve been picked up and are being dragged away, kicking.

“Terra!” I scream and sprint off to aid them. Three more men block my path. I growl and nail them with a hose blast of water.

“Tide, help?” It’s the first time Coal has used my actual name.

I turn and see he’s been ganged up on. Six guys are almost on him, and he’s weakening. I glance back at Breeze and Terra. Breeze is too tired to attack, unlike Terra, who is trying her best, thrashing around hopelessly. If I save them, the men will get Coal. If I save Coal, the men will get Breeze and Terra. I turn back to Coal, and to my horror, all I see is a pile of guys where he used to be.

“No!” I shriek and leap at them.

The ice I had frozen the first round of agents in explodes. It swirls around Coal and me in a hurricane of hail, rain, and snow. I can vaguely see the men fighting against it, but falling to the ground after being nailed by an ice ball. With a final, un-earthly cry that comes deep inside my chest, the swirling storm blasts out, knocking out every agent in the clearing. A layer of frost settles on everything, and my voice echoes against the silence.

“Breeze?” I call. ”Terra?"

They aren’t here. The men got them.

How could I let this happen? How?

Everything is sort of spinning around. I’m so tired. So tired and dizzy. I just need to rest.

No! Find Terra and Breeze!

“Flippers?” Coal’s voice sounds far away and hollow. “Are you okay?”

I think that’s when I faint.