Air: The Elementals: Book One

by Jennifer Lush

  “Why do you say she’s a witch?”

  “She told me.”

  Lilah said almost mockingly, “So she just announced one day ‘hey Jackson, guess what? I’m a witch.’”

  He sighed feeling made fun of, “Not exactly. She was going through a period back in high school. I knew something was up. Anyway, she finally told me. She’s from a long line of witches, and she was adjusting and learning about who she really was.”

  Lilah stared at the fire and played with her lower lip. Everleigh confided in a friend. How many times had Lilah wanted a friend to talk to about her family?

  Jackson saw her and assumed Lilah didn’t believe in what he was saying. “It’s true though.”

  She looked at him and asked, “Her being a witch?”

  He nodded and looked off at his friend. “There has always been talk about her family being witches. It’s really just mockery based on some of the weird things they do, but she really is a witch.”

  Lilah wondered why he would tell someone he barely knew about his friend’s secret like this. “I believe you.”

  “You do?” Jackson looked surprised and pleased.

  “Yeah, I mean why not? I think witches are real.” Lilah shrugged, “I’m a psychic myself.”

  “You mock, but I’m telling the truth.”

  Lilah only flashed him a playful smile. In time, he would learn that she was being truthful as well.

  They drove up the drive to the farmhouse, and he came around to her door to let her out. It didn’t comfort Lilah that no one was outside waiting because she knew they could see.

  “I had a great time tonight. I’m really glad you came,” he said, grabbing her hand to walk her to the steps.

  “Me too,” she smiled nervously.

  “I hope you had fun.”

  “I did,” she looked in his eyes which even in the darkness shone a brilliant shade of blue.

  “I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?”

  She nodded. For a moment, he lingered, and Lilah thought he was about to move in for a kiss. Instead he smiled and walked back to the car.

  Lilah walked up the steps to the house giddy with excitement. Jackson was wonderful. She practically floated into the house. She didn’t notice the tiny mud tracks that ran behind the swing showing evidence of the squirrel she’d begun to think of as a pet. She definitely didn’t notice that were two sets of tracks either indicating he’d ran across more than once since the light rain that morning, or he had a friend to keep him company during the long winter months.

  She walked inside, and the house looked empty. Panic filled her for a moment. She had tried to have a normal evening and blocked all outside thoughts. What had happened while she was gone?

  Just as the thought overtook her, a figure stepped out of the kitchen. “DADDY!” Lilah squealed and ran to him.

  “When did you get here?” Lilah asked still hugging her dad tightly. “I didn’t know you were coming today.”

  “I wanted to surprise you. Besides I wanted you to have fun on your date,” he winked.

  She saw her mom emerge and realized others had already come into the living room. “So that’s it then? Everyone is ready.”

  “Yes,” he answered. “Everyone is either here or at the other house with Aunt Sophia.”

  Lilah looked around, “Where’s Maddie?”

  Myles and Abby exchanged glances.

  “What happened?” Lilah asked fearing the worst. It was true Maddie wasn’t exactly her favorite cousin, but that didn’t mean she ever wished her ill will.

  “Nothing,” her dad replied with an amused grin.

  Lilah narrowed her eyes confused.

  Her mom tried to hide her smile. “It seems she’s decided to stay at Aunt Sophia’s house instead.””

  That was the best news Lilah had received about their stay here since she’d first been filled in on what was going on. “That’s too bad,” she muttered with obvious sarcasm.

  “Yeah,” her dad tilted his head to the side. “It seems she’s a bit upset about being bested in finding a match.”

  Lilah couldn’t help the satisfactory grin that wouldn’t stop growing. “What now?”

  “Well,” her dad began putting an arm around Abby who had walked over next to him, “now we wait.”

  “I can’t believe no one has heard from Marcus yet,” Lilah looked around at the other family members. “How long has it been?”

  Her dad nodded. “It’s worried me some, I admit. Marcus and Leena know what they’re doing. We have to trust that.”

  “And while we wait,” her mom grinned, “how about you tell us all about how things went?”

  “Like you don’t already know,” Lilah rolled her eyes.

  “We don’t,” said Todd from behind her parents. Lilah looked around her dad and her uncle holding his hand over his heart like he was pledging the truth. “None of us spied. We gave you the privacy you’ve been wanting.”

  “In that case,” Lilah looked around at everyone, “I met a witch!”

  “A witch?” her dad asked.

  “Yep,” she looked at her mom. “The one from the restaurant a couple days ago. Her name is Everleigh.”

  “Oh,” her mom nodded.

  “It’s weird. Jackson told me she was a witch,” Lilah said headed to the kitchen for a drink. She rummaged through the fridge until she found the juice and poured a glass. She was aware that she had been followed. Those who didn’t come to the kitchen were hanging around in the other room listening. Lilah concentrated on keeping her mind shut off.

  She turned and took her glass to the table and sat down. Her mom and dad and Sara joined her. Sara broke the silence first, “He just came right out and said witch?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What did you do?” her dad asked.

  “I tried to play it cool. Asked him questions. He’s known since they were in high school.”

  “I’m not surprised. Witches have a long history of taking their friends to heart just like family. They protect their circle. Its common place nowadays for witches to be known,” her mom explained.

  “It just makes me wonder.”

  “Makes you wonder why we never tell anyone?” Her dad always understood her.

  “Yeah. According to Jackson, the whole town knows her family has a witch history.”

  “We follow Marcus’ rules, honey,” Sara told her.

  “I know. Just…” Lilah took a sip, “Do we still have to? I mean is the secrecy still necessary? Things have changed a lot since Marcus first arrived.”

  “The thing is,” her dad looked off like the words he was searching for were across the room. “The Elementals. We’re all…”

  “Different,” Lilah groaned and banged her head on the table. “I’m so sick of the answer to everything being that we’re different.”

  “It’s true,” Sara reached out and patted Lilah’s arm. “We can all have children, but only vampires and werewolves can create their kind from someone not born with their blood. We’re immortal like the vampires. Witches and werewolves aren’t.”

  “Exactly,” said her mom. “We don’t want to wind up being a test subject in some science lab while someone tries to bottle the mythical fountain of youth. If people learned you were psychic, you would be a novelty. If they learned of your immortality, it could be a danger to all of us.”

  “I’d hate to think about what would happen if humans learn how we can change our appearance,” Todd said from the doorway.

  Lilah stared at her glass from the side with her head on an outstretched arm. She knew they were right. “I suppose that makes sense,” she finally agreed. “Except for one thing.”

  “What’s that, Lilah?” Uncle Todd asked.

  “Vampires can’t have children.”

  Todd threw up his hands and with an amused look said, “Once again, I’m going to exit this conversation now, and leave you guys alone.”

  Sara jumped up after him, “Wait for me. You were going to
uh…tell me…you know about the thing.”

  “Oh, yeah, the thing,” Todd said. “Let’s go.”

  They were out of the kitchen in a flash. Lilah slowly sat upright without looking at either of her parents. “They’re dead.”

  “Created vampires are,” her dad told her.

  Lilah pursed her lips, “So vampires can have children.”

  “Ye-“

  “Nope,” Lilah interrupted her dad. “I’m not asking. Vampires can have children. Witches are out of the closet. Werewolves are probably the only dog breed that doesn’t know how to swim.”

  “Actually…” her mom began.

  “Nope. I’m done for one night.”

  Lilah stood up and walked to the other side of the table. She gave her parents a hug saying, “I’m going to bed. Don’t worry. I’ll check under my bed for zombies.”

  She walked through the doorway of the back stairs. “Oh look! A fairy.”

  Her parents smiled at each other amused by their daughter’s humor.

  Lilah’s voice was still trickling down, “A leprechaun? You don’t say? Maybe he will lead us to his pot of gold.”

  Abby and Myles started to chuckle. They leaned their heads to one another trying not to lose it listening to their daughter’s sarcasm.

  “Oh my God! Mom! Dad! Come quick! It’s Bigfoot!”

  Her parents were laughing so hard they couldn’t hear the rest of the family joining in with them.

  Todd wiped the tears from his eyes. That girl has been through and learned so much the last few days. It was good she could still laugh. It gave him hope that she would pull through whatever was coming without too much lasting damage.

  Lilah lay back on her bed. She didn’t even bother to undress. She had so many questions swarming, but she was too exhausted to pay them any attention right now. It could wait until tomorrow. She would learn the truth about all the Elementals then. For now, she only wanted sleep.

  The last thing she did before drifting off to sleep was look at her phone. She had one notification from Jackson that read, “Looking forward to seeing you again.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was almost Halloween, but you couldn’t tell it by the snow that blanketed the ground. Lilah sat in the front window with her coffee staring at the foreign white substance. Rarely had her family lived in a cold weather region and not since she was a young child. She was both fascinated by it and mad that she couldn’t enjoy her coffee outside without altering the temperature around her to avoid freezing.

  Slowly the others in the house began to wake and move about their morning. She barely paid them attention. She concentrated on the one small set of tracks that went through the snow to keep her thoughts blocked. She was so focused that she didn’t hear dad talking to her.

  “Earth to Lilah!”

  Lilah looked up and smiled, “Morning dad.”

  “Are you sure you’re awake?”

  Lilah looked puzzled. “I was up before anyone else.”

  “I’ve been trying to talk to you.”

  “Oh, I was lost in thought.”

  “I figured you might be today. I guessed you might have some questions.”

  “Yeah, I do. Well one anyway.”

  Her dad pulled a chair over by her and sat down. “Okay I’m ready. What’s on your mind?”

  “How did mom tell you about who she really was?”

  “What?” Her dad was taken aback.

  “You know, about being an Air.”

  “I know what you mean. That’s your question?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s it? That’s all your curious about?”

  “Is there supposed to be something else?”

  “I was prepared to talk to you about the other Elementals. I would’ve bet your first question would be how vampires can have children.”

  “That too.”

  Her dad laughed, and Lilah heard another voice joining. She turned to see her Uncle Joseph leaning against the back of the sofa. Lilah smiled at him. He mostly kept to himself, so she hadn’t been around him much growing up.

  “Morning, Uncle Joseph.”

  “Good morning, Lilah,” he looked around at the family. He looked almost out of place in his own house with the number of Air descendants packed in it. “I hope you don’t mind if I join you and your father. You’ve been a bit overwhelmed the last few days. I want to try to help you make sense of it all.”

  “You can join us anytime, Uncle Joseph.”

  The noises in the living room grew louder as more people began to wake up and mill about. It was clearly making her uncle uncomfortable. “Should we go to the dining room? It might be quieter there.”

  “Absolutely,” replied her dad. Her uncle looked thankful for the suggestion.

  They moved through the kitchen into the dining room and closed the door to decrease the conversation and television noises that would otherwise flood through. Closing if for privacy would be useless when everyone in the family would be able to follow the conversation whether or not they were present.

  “So you really want to talk about Jackson?” Her dad asked still in disbelief that this was the most pressing question for her.

  “I just…well,” Lilah wasn’t sure how to begin.

  “He will handle the news fine when he learns of your ancestry,” her uncle told her. “All matches do.”

  “I know this. I do. It’s just that Everleigh messaged him last night about me. She couldn’t get a read on me at the party.”

  “That’s because you’re an Air. You’re naturally blocked to other Elementals. You’d have to willingly allow her to read you, but if you grant her access, she can see anything she wants,” her uncle warned.

  “Right. She told Jackson to be cautious with me. She didn’t know what it meant that she couldn’t read me, but it worried her.”

  Her dad smiled, “Now this makes sense. He’s your match. Things will fall into place. You could drive yourself crazy watching it unfold in your mind, but you know the future is fickle. Freewill changes it constantly.”

  “Matches always work out,” her uncle added. “All you have to do is let the pieces fall into place. Besides, there are more pressing matters at hand.”

  “Do you know why we’ve been summoned?” she asked.

  “It’s a matter of grave importance. That’s all I know. That’s enough,” he answered her.

  Lilah sipped her coffee. For a moment, she had hoped that the gathering might be explained.

  “You can tell him or choose for him to figure it out slowly,” her dad interjected. “The ladies in the family have done both. Do whatever feels right as time moves along. He isn’t going to ask you about his conversation with Everleigh, so you won’t have to explain yourself so soon.”

  Lilah rubbed the back of her neck and thought it over. He was right. They both were. Her eyes popped open and she looked back and forth between her dad and uncle. “Alright then. Spill it.”

  Her dad laughed and slapped his knee. “I knew it. You want the birds and the bees of the vampires, don’t you?”

  Lilah rested her elbows on the table and slowly lifted her coffee to her lips without taking her eyes off her dad. “I want to know everything.”

  Lilah sat in her room alone. Her family were growing restless after several days without news from Marcus. They would continue to wait, but how long would it be and to what end? No one knew. People murmured. Tomorrow would be another attempt at the Return. The Elements had now been on Earth for a millennium.

  Some had thought the Return would be successful this year, and Marcus gathered them to say goodbye. The window to do this was slowly closing which made everyone scramble for new hunches. Everyone but Lilah. She wanted to know and would probably be impatiently pacing the floors with the others if it weren’t for Jackson.

  He was texting her now. He had been since the party they had attended. Jackson invited her over for dinner with a couple of his friends. They were going to order out pizza a
nd watch a horror movie. Lilah wanted to go and was sure she be allowed even though Marcus could appear at any moment. Jackson was her match which means no one would interfere.

  There was only one reason Lilah was even considering not going. That reason was Everleigh. She would be there along with her cousin Amber. Lilah was unable to pick up on Amber’s thoughts which could mean she was under a protection spell, but given the surge of newly called witches, it was likely Amber was a witch herself.

  Everleigh was the main cause for concern. She was suspicious of Lilah and for good reason. The Elementals held a certain upper hand over humans, but those tricks could not be used on other Elementals. Everleigh suspected her of being a witch or at least an acquaintance of one. But who would have cast it? It was actually her idea to do this with Jackson and Lilah just so she could try to learn more.

  Lilah was torn. She wanted to spend time with Jackson regardless of who was around, but she knew if she went, there was a high chance of a scene being caused. Accusations would be flung. She needn’t worry about making up with Jackson afterward, but she didn’t want to go through it at all. She had been debating about it all day internally using the excuse that she had a family matter she would have to try to get out of later. It was time for her to make up her mind.

  She wandered downstairs silently asking her mom to meet her in the kitchen as she went. Lilah came off the bottom step and saw Uncle Liam rifling through the fridge for something to eat. Her mom walked in and sat at the table. Lilah walked to the cabinet and got a glass for tea. She was trying to kill a little time hoping for some privacy, but gave up when it occurred to her that with this many Air under one roof, privacy was a rare commodity. She should’ve asked her mom to come upstairs.

  She sat down and sipped her tea. Lilah grimaced. It was bitter. She pushed the glass away and announced, “Jackson wants me to come over tonight. Pizza and a movie,” she said nonchalantly.

  Her mom’s face softened. Abby had been worried that it might be something far more serious than this. “That’s fine, sweetie. Have fun. You know we’ll call for you if we need you.”