The Elementals

I wake up when Caelum nudges me. I jump, realizing I fell asleep on his shoulder. He laughs and I scowl out the window so he can’t see that my face is red. It’s morning. The plane shudders to a stop on a runway. I grab the water bottle warily. Caelum slowly stands up, on guard. I follow him to the door, ready to fight. It swooshes open and we both leap back. I peer around the door. It must have opened electronically, because no one is here. I jump out. We’re in some sort of huge dome. It’s black and has pulsing blue lines through it, like cracks on a plate. Despite the dark ceiling, the room is well lit, how I don’t know.

“Caelum,” I say and he comes up next to me. “Try doing your gravity thing.”

He looks at me quizzically, but then he turns and concentrates. Nothing. He glances back at me, confused. I point to the dome and try emptying the water from the bottle. I can’t feel the rush, the way things come sharply into focus, anymore. I curse. This stuff is worse than the white glass. It completely prevents us from using our powers at all. The others stir awake and come out of the plane. I see Steel trying to bend some metal off the plane, and then turn towards me with grim look on his face, confirming that he too, can’t use his powers. Stella doesn’t disappear into the shadows like normal.

Suddenly, a door opens on the other end of the dome. A line of uniformed men walk out. They march towards us, the door closing swiftly behind them. They’re wearing these weird looking helmets and chest plates made of the same white stuff I’ve seen before. Each holds a pair of the white bracelets that were on Coal and Steel in the facility. I growl, stepping in front of everyone to face the soldiers. I stop when I hear a wheezy voice from the middle of the formation. The men step back to reveal Breeze, thin and worn on stretcher.

I hear Stella step back and gasp in horror. “The brain sickness!” She hisses fearfully. Well that sounds lovely.

“Tide?” Breeze asks, looking around blindly. Her eyes are white, like she has catarax.

I race over to her, shoving a few men out of the way. “I’m here,” I tell her. “Breeze, what did she do to you?” Breeze’s frame is bony, her eyes sunken into her head. Her hair is tangled and wispy. Her skin is almost see-through it’s so pale. Breeze coughs, shudders running through her whole body.

“Chip...in my head...” She whispers, breathing raggedly. “Controls me...sorry...hit you.”

“Stop straining yourself,” I tell her hurriedly because her breaths are getting shallower.

She shakes her head. “Know I’m...dying. The chip...messes up...brain...nerves. Don’t let her...do the same...to you.”

Tears are rolling silently down my cheeks. I grip her cold hand. It’s quivering. I want to say she can’t die, that she won’t, but it’s not true. Breeze knows; it would be an insult to try and raise her hopes. I just sit with her as her fingers slowly go limp. Then the stretcher is carried away, Breeze’s arm dangling lifelessly over the edge. The door opens and closes quietly.

It feels like someone just took half of me away with that stretcher. I sit there in shock, while the white bracelets are put on my wrists. I don’t fight; don’t complain as they drag me and the others out of the dome. Breeze was always there, to reassure and back up my plan. I gave her so many reasons to give up on me but she never did. Now she’s gone. She’s gone. Gone, forever.

Dead.

I’m thrown, ungracefully sobbing, into a cell. I fall to the floor and just sit there. I hear an argument, some shouts and shoving, and before the door closes, Caelum squeezes in. He walks over and sits down next to me. He doesn’t say anything. I’m curled up, trying to get in air, tears streaming down my face, and he doesn’t say anything. No sarcastic comment, no jibe at my weak state. He just sits there. It takes me a second to realize I’m leaning on him, pressing my face into his shoulder. I think about getting up, but I can’t stop crying. It’s like all those held back tears from the smaller kids leaving me at the orphanage and Breeze is just pouring out.

Eventually, my throat is so tight I can hardly breathe and my eyes are red and puffy, and I stop wailing. I look at the floor. Somewhere when I was crying, the bracelets automatically fell off. It doesn’t matter; the cell is still made of the white stuff. I sit there, processing the fact that I just bawled my eyes out to a complete stranger. Slowly, I glance up at Caelum. He meets my eyes with his worried, grey ones.

“Sorry,” I say, my voice hoarse. I’m still leaning against his body, but I don’t get up. I’m actually not sure I can.

“It’s alright,” he says. “Sometimes people just need to cry.”

Ooh, so deep. I nod like a baby anyway and curl up closer. “She didn’t deserve to die.” I sniff. “It should’ve been me.”

“No,” Caelum says strongly. “You don’t deserve to die.”

I stay silent. She’s gone. Dead. You can’t even say the word out loud you coward.

“Stop blaming yourself,” Caelum tells me, reading my thoughts. “There was nothing you could do.”

But there is something I could’ve done. I could’ve gone to find them sooner, not left at all. There has to be something. “But,” I say weakly, not wanting to accept it. “She’s gone.”

He doesn’t move. We sit there for hours. Eventually, I fall asleep. My dreams are all the same. Breeze is calling to me, I can’t find her, but as soon as I do, she disappears in a cloud of smoke. I always jump awake screaming her name. Caelum stays right next to me the entire time. I’m not sure if I say thank you, but I think he gets it.

I don’t eat, barely drink, and just sit in a corner; reliving Breeze’s breaths getting shallower and shallower. She died right next to me. I was right next to her when she died. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything when she died. Some days I hate myself for it. Some I hate everyone else. But I always hate Izila. Izila Franklin killed Breeze. I imagine different ways I would destroy her if she tries to come by. It’s rather morbid, but I hope she does so I can shred her.

Then, after I don’t know how long, I hear voices. Getting closer. I peek up and sit rigid. It’s Coal. He’s being led along by more of the soldier guys. I scramble to my feet. Pressing my hands against the glass, I call out to him. He glances at me. He opens his mouth to say something then closes it suddenly. I watch as they march past, out of sight. Now there’s no hope of outside help. I slump back down against the wall. I look up and see Caelum right behind me.

“So you’re just going to sit there?” He asks, his voice mild, but with a hint of a challenge in it.

I look up at him. “What else is there?” I sound whiny and pathetic.

“There are lots of things other than moping around.” He says, pacing over to a table. I hadn’t noticed, but food and drinks are laid out on a fancy spread on the far side of the cell. To my surprise, there’s water.

“I’m not moping around.” I say, standing up shakily.

Caelum turns to me, biting into an apple. “So bawling in a cell doing nothing isn’t moping?”

I clench my fists, stalking over to him. The effect is slightly ruined when I have to tilt my chin up to glare at him. He looks at me with those stupid multicolor silver kaleidoscope eyes. I try to ignore how stupidly transfixing they are. “Excuse me?”

“I mean,” he continues, leaning casually against the table, “It’s been a day or so, right?” He yawns.

My jaw tightens. “Have I bothered you with my sorrows?” I ask, my voice dangerously quiet.

He nods slowly, “Little bit, yeah.”

I feel kind of done. I don’t know where they’re taking Coal. I’m not sure what’s happened to Stella, Steel, Sparky, Maple and Terra. A lady has kidnapped us all for god knows what.

Breeze is dead.

And this guy has the nerve to just act all smart-alecky right now. I stand there, fuming, and something inside of me just snaps; like a rubber band stretched too far. “Well, I’m sorry.” I snarl and with a yell the water explodes out of the bottles on the table. It swirls in the air, collecting, and slams down with such force that the cell vibrates. Not on Caelum though. I stop as I hear a slight creaking noise. It’s ominous, like the ice is breaking under your feet and you have nowhere to run.

I turn and see that the water is pooled by the door. There’s a large crack running up the glass. It spreads, blooming like a flower, causing the wall to look like a spider web. Suddenly, the wall shatters, crashing down. I stand there in shock. I had no idea I could do that. I had never tried. It would have made things a whole lot simpler.

“You did it, princess!” cheers Caelum from behind me.

I spin around. He’s smiling broadly, running over. Before I can say anything, he’s lifted me up and is carrying me out into the hall. We’re both laughing hysterically. When I see the guards turning though, I wriggle free. I collect the water and sprint down the hallway. The men don’t stand a chance. One wave of my hand and they’re down for the count.

“Coal!” I shout and run straight into him. He stumbles back. “Sorry,” I say, still gripping him just to make sure he’s real.

“Its fine,” Coal’s eyes are on Caelum, who’s walking up behind me. “Who are you?”

“I could ask the same.” Caelum replies coolly. Coal’s body tenses.

“Coal,” I say carefully, gesturing to each of them. “Meet Caelum. Caelum, meet Coal.”

They glare at each other murderously. I ignore it and creep down the hallway. It’s really bothering me that no alarms are going off or anything. The next few cells are empty, and then I see the others. There’s no key hole. Just a keypad. Well, my plan is blown out the window.

“Allow me,” Caelum steps forward. The keypad compresses onto itself and the door opens with an unnatural pop. The noise echoes down all the cells. Cautiously, everyone steps out. They see us and their drawn faces brighten. I motion for them to follow.

“Where’s Breeze?” Coal asks, and my chest tightens.

“She’s-” I stutter, my voice a hoarse whisper. I can’t say it.

“Dead.” Caelum says from behind me. Coal’s face is shocked, and even pained, but he clenches his jaw and keeps moving.

I have this horrible feeling of déjà vu as we walk through the empty halls. Finally, directed by some very helpful signs, we reach the exit. I push open the door and walk into the fresh air. We’re on some sort of huge mountain range. I look behind me and see that the place is way bigger than I thought. I can barely see the black dome on the other side of the building, which is three stories high. I return my gaze back in front of me and step back, cursing. I knew we wouldn’t get out so easy. Hundreds of men are lined up in a barrier, surrounding us and blocking the escape. I scan the crowd for Izila. She’s nowhere to be found.

Coal and Caelum move forward at the same time. They scowl. Then Caelum shoves his hands out, and the entire mob of soldiers start to float. They spin around in the air, reacting in the way you think people would if they started randomly levitating. I take the chance and start to run under the men, down the mountainside. I hear the others pounding after, and Caelum comes up next to me.

“Good work,” I tell him, skidding down a small ridge. “How long will they stay up there?”

He smiles at me. “As long as we need, princess.”

I run faster, pulling ahead of him. I can feel Coal’s stare at my back. The trees are getting thicker. I stumble a bit on the rocks, but push on. I glance behind me and see that Stella is lagging. “Keep going,” I tell everyone as I slow down. “Are you alright?” I ask Stella.

She nods uncertainly. “Not used to running so much,” she pants. I nod, taking the lead again.

The trees provide much needed cover and after a while we slow down. We’re only half way down the slope. I burst out into a clearing and backpedal as I realize it’s a cliff. I’m not sure how to get down it because it seems to wrap around the entire mountain, so I tell everyone to stop. I hear panting and gasping.

“Where are we?” Terra asks.

“Not in that place.” I reply. I walk out of the trees and peer down the cliff face. It’s dizzying.

Caelum walks up next to me. “Afraid of heights, princess?”

“No,” I say defensively. “You?”

“Not a chance,” he says, and jumps off.

I stand there in shock for a second. He jumped off the cliff. He just jumped off of a cliff. “Caelum!” I shout. I can’t see him. I turn away, face in hands. I don’t want to look over the edge and see his mangled, broken body...

“So you do care, princess.” Caelum says, floating in the air above me, smirking.

“You...fell...but-” I stammer and then clench my teeth and spin around, stomping into the trees as Caelum laughs behind me.

Coal is there. Finally, someone I can talk to. “Hey,” I say, walking towards him.

“Hi.” he replies curtly.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. He’s been acting weird lately. Actually, he acts weird a lot so it’s not much different than usual.

“Nothing,” Coal says. I cross my arms. He glares at me. I don’t care, this is getting old. We lock eyes. Coal looks down, frowning. “So I’m gone for a bit and you just move on to someone else?”

“What?” I was not expecting that. “Wha-are you talking about Caelum?”

“Yeah,” he snaps. “Your new boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I protest, “He’s-he’s-” I’m not sure what Caelum is. He’s not my boyfriend, that’s for sure, but for some reason I can’t force myself to say just a friend.

Coal’s eyes flash and he stalks away. I’m torn on whether to chase after him or not. I want to set things straight, but my stubbornness and pride is keeping me rigid in place. I whip around and see Caelum right behind me. He’s smiling.

“So princess, what am I?” He asks smugly.

“What? Nothing!” I shove Caelum away, dashing into the woods, like the sad little coward I am.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t believe this is happening. Why me? It could’ve happened to anyone else in the world. It’s not like I have other problems to think about, no don’t let that bother you. It’s not like I’m a living circus sideshow on the run being hunted down by crazy, controlling grown-ups who will stop at nothing to capture us and do god knows what. I mean, seriously, I have enough problems already.

I clamber up a tree, all the way to the top. The wind whistles past my face and I want to scream. The branches groan in protest and I sway sickeningly. I wish Caelum hadn’t asked that. Now my feelings are all swirled and messed up. I want to say I hate him, but there was a part of me that wanted to stay right there. I’m not going to acknowledge how big that part was. I stay up there far too long. Into the night. When I finally come down, my legs are wobbly. I walk back to the make shift camp. I count six sleeping forms. Terra is still awake, sitting next to Maple and Sparky. She sees me and gets up quietly.

“Where have you been?” She asks.

My mind is elsewhere, but I reply, “Around.”

Terra motions for us to walk out of earshot. “Are you trying to help us or not?” She asks and I look at her, surprised.

“Of course I’m trying to help you-” I say but she cuts me off.

“Then act like it.” She hisses, keeping her voice low. “You weren’t here for half the day. We had no idea where you were or if anything happened.”

“Oh,” I hadn’t really thought about who took charge when I was gone.

“Yeah,” Terra says, “If you’re going to lead, you can’t just run off like that, okay?”

“I know-”

“If you know, then why do you still do it? Breeze isn’t here to cover for you-” Terra stops. “Breeze isn’t here.” She whispers, her voice catching. “She was my only friend.”

I hug her, after a pause. “I’m your friend. Sparky and Maple are your friends. Steel is your friend.”

Terra’s body shakes with a slight sob. Recovering, she says, “Steel liked her.”

I glance through the leaves at Steel. He’s sleeping in a hunched position, pained. He hasn’t spoken since the plane. I’m not surprised he liked Breeze. I think even Coal could deal with her.

I turn back to Terra. “Coal is your friend.”

She looks up, eyes watery. “Right, because Coal has such a winning personality.” I can’t help but giggle. She smiles a little. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Staying.” She says. “You could have just let us sit there and rot but you didn’t. And we’re tough to handle. I talk a lot.”

“We all have our issues. I know I do.” I say, smiling, but thinking about other things. “It keeps me from having to make conversation.” She laughs quietly and we walk back to the camp.