“Besides her ankle, Sally looks like she is in wonderful health. We will figure out exactly what is going on tomorrow,” he told my mom.
“Is that it for today?” my mom asked.
“Yes, I think that’s enough for today. You had a long drive to get here, and I’m sure you would like to rest. The receptionist will get you all set up, give you directions, and show you the best places to eat. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
Mom and I walked out front and got all the details settled as quickly as we could.
We got back in the car and headed up the road a few miles to the address we were given. In front of me was a small, beautiful cottage. It looked as if someone had taken it out of a fairy tale and placed it high on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The ocean was amazing to see. The waves crashed into the rocks below me, and high above, the seagulls soared.
“Sally,” Mom called, “come inside and rest while I call your father.” I followed her inside and down the hall to where my room would be and sat on the bed.
Chapter Two
I woke up to the sound of my mom yelling for me. Sleepily, I sat up and shook out my long, blonde hair. Glancing to my left, I looked out the patio doors to an unfamiliar sight. All I could see was wave after wave crashing on the shore, and I could smell the salt in the air. The water called to me, and if I were allowed, I would sit on the balcony and watch all morning.
In the distance, I could hear the seagulls calling to each other as they flew over the waves. Maybe if I sat here long enough, I would get to see a whale. Too bad I had to go to the doctors. I would have to enjoy the beach later.
“I love you, Sally. Call me if you need anything at all,” my mom said when we pulled up to the hospital.
“I will, mom. I love you too,” I said as I got out of the car. I walked through the doors and into the waiting room. The same receptionist as yesterday was waiting for me and told me to follow her back to one of the rooms.
The doctor walked in a few minutes later. “Sally, how are you today? How does your ankle feel?”
“Hi, Dr. Griffith. I’m doing fine today. My ankle feels even better today than yesterday. I really don’t think I broke it that bad. Do you?”
“I’m glad you are doing well. I think you broke it, but you are a fast healer. We are going to do a quick x-ray and then get that cast off if it’s all healed.” He smiled and looked at his notes. I wasn’t sure if he was joking about my ankle or not, but it did feel better. He did the x-ray, and when he showed me the result, I was stunned. I could see the break in my ankle, but it was completely healed.
“So the question is, how did you break your ankle so bad, and how did it heal so quickly?” Dr. Griffith asked.
“I don’t know. Isn’t that why we are running tests today?”
“What if I told you it was magic?”
“Magic doesn’t exist.”
Dr. Griffith shook his head at me. “Let’s try something different. Sit in this chair and close your eyes. The nurse is going to put these electrodes on you so we can measure your heart rate, pulse, brain, and a whole lot of other things I’m sure you aren’t interested in.” A nurse walked in and came over to hook me up. As soon as she finished, she walked back out into the hallway.
“I’m going to tell you a story. I want you to relax and think about what I’m saying.”
I sat in the chair and closed my eyes. “Why?”
“It is to help you relax and see what your reactions are.”
“A long time ago, before the world existed, there were the shadow kings. They traveled the universe exploring. One day they came upon a star and decided they would stay and live their lives. They combined their powers and created all the planets. They each took a planet as their own and made it the way they wanted, though there was some fighting in the beginning.”
“What were they fighting over?” I asked.
“They fought over the planets. I will tell you about that another time. This is a small part of the story. One day on Earth, the third shadow king was walking in his valley when a great flame fell through the sky. Thinking it was his brother trying to ruin his planet, he ran to where it had fallen. Instead of seeing his brother, what he saw shocked him. Standing in a ring around the fire were dragons encircling a group of elementals. They all bowed before him and asked if they could stay because their home had been destroyed by a great evil.”
“He agreed, as long as they stayed in the mountains. Things returned to normal, and they lived happily for many years. Again something fell from the sky. This time bringing ice and landing in a large lake. Sprites swam around a group of elementals, and they told a tale of devastation taking place on their homeworld and asked to stay. He granted their request, telling them to stay by the oceans and rivers.”
“What are elementals?” I interrupted him.
“They are beings that can harness the power of the elements,” he told me. “Now, try to relax.”
I nodded my head, and he continued.
“Life went on, but many years later, something else came from the sky and buried itself deep in the ground. The shadow king made his way down into the earth to see what had landed. The dryads stood next to their own elementals. They told the same tale of a great evil taking over their home. He agreed to let them stay, giving them the freedom to move around the earth as they saw fit, for they were no danger to him. It wasn’t until hundreds of years later that the air elementals and sylphs came, though the tale they told was the worst.
“They came seeking a new home because the rest of the air elementals had turned to dark and evil ways. They were the last of their kind. The others had changed with each wicked deed they performed. They were no longer air elementals but something far worse and far stronger.
“The shadow king went to his brothers and told them what was going on and asked if they should help the rest of the universe. The brothers debated for days, but the decision was made to leave the universe alone. They had their own matters to take care of and didn’t believe anything could ever hurt them. So the shadow king and all the elementals lived peacefully for hundreds of years. At some point, humans came to be, but no one knows who made them or how they got on Earth.
“Elementals came to be seen as gods to the humans, and soon each element type had whole human populations worshipping them. The elementals taught the humans magic, and it was passed on to their children. Different elementals came across each other, and many great battles were fought. Each thought their abilities were the best.
“Finally, the shadow king became fed up with the elementals. He took their power away from all their followers. He told the dragons, sprites, dryads, sylphs, and all the true elementals that they could stay as long as they never gave their power to anyone else. They also had to remain sealed in the areas he set aside for each. They agreed to the shadow king’s terms, and life became peaceful. The people of earth continued to spread across the land, slowly forgetting about the elementals. Since they no longer had magic, they forgot about it too. At least most of them did.”
“Why did they forget about it?”
Dr. Griffith stood up from his seat beside me, “Let’s talk. I can finish telling you the story later. What do you think so far?”
“It’s an interesting story,” I replied. “I almost feel like I have heard it before.”
“It is the true origins of our world,” Dr. Griffith said. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He seemed to believe what he was saying.
“There are many magical beings in this world still, but we will get to that later. I’m going to be honest, there is nothing wrong with you. You are an elemental. The elementals have been here since the shadow king separated people from the true elementals. Most live in havens, and some still don’t know what they are. Sometimes, something like this happens. They break a bone, get sick, or try to donate blood, and the results come back that something is wrong. This is not true, it just means you have the abilities of an elemental. Most of the
time, a family knows right away that a child has abilities and takes them to a special school like the one we have here.”
I looked at Dr. Griffith as if he was crazy. “I think I would like to call my mom. I want her to come get me,” I started to stand up.
“I know you don’t want to hear this. Most people would think I’m crazy, but how do you explain what happened? Bones don’t heal that fast, and the cut you got in the office healed immediately too.”
“The hospital must have confused my X-ray with someone else,” I stammered, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“You know they didn’t. Plus, you have been having incidents with water. The fountain at the park, the fountain here, whenever you get hurt water starts to act differently,” I thought back on it and shook my head. There had to be a way to explain it.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You have no choice. You are here because you are an elemental. There is nowhere else you can go. There are those out there who would like nothing more than to use your power for themselves. They will stop at nothing to find you. I’m sure they are already looking since you used a lot of power with the water fountain near your house. Using power, even unintentionally, always leaves a trace if you don’t know how to conceal it and calls other magic users.”
I stepped away from him, not wanting to believe anything he said.
“Wait,” he called before I left the room. I turned back toward him and stared. He was holding a ball of water in his hand. I reached forward to feel it, to see if it was real or if my mind was playing tricks on me. My hand passed through the water. I jumped back and watched as the ball of water moved away from Dr. Griffith and towards the sink in the room. As it splashed into the sink, I swayed on my feet, dizzy from seeing what appeared to be magic.
“Relax,” Dr. Griffith was saying to me. “Take deep breaths, and everything will be fine.” He calmly led me to a chair and had me sit down. “Don’t try to get up or talk until you are feeling better.”
As I sat there, I tried to figure out how he had done it. There was no way it was real magic. Maybe this was another test. “Dr. Griffith, I’m not sure what I saw,” I started.
“What you saw is magic. I am a water elemental. I can make water do what I want, but it takes a lot of practice. There are also fire, earth, and air elementals.”
“I don’t understand. How is this possible?”
“I told you the beginning of the story, and I will tell you the rest soon. For now, I think we should discuss what I think you are.” I nodded, still not accepting magic but willing to hear him out.
“Obviously, you have an affinity for water which we will test in a few moments if you are willing, and also an ability to heal quickly.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you are feeling better, why don’t you walk with me. I will show you.”
I decided it couldn’t hurt to learn a little more. The doctor led me through a hall and out a door that opened up into the most spectacular garden. In the center stood a sculpture of a mermaid playing in a fountain.
“Come sit down,” Dr. Griffith said. “I want you to concentrate. Think very hard about how water moves. The shape of it, how it feels, what it looks like. Concentrate on making a ball of water rise from the fountain. Close your eyes, and see the water rising up into the air.”
Closing my eyes, I decided to prove him wrong. I wasn’t magical, and when he saw that I couldn’t do it, he would forget about magic and tell me what was really wrong. I thought about the water, how it felt when I touched it, the peacefulness that came over me when I swam. My thoughts formed the picture of the water rising from the fountain. Slowly I felt something change inside me. It began as a tingling in my chest and moved down to my hands. When I opened my eyes, a small ball of water was floating above the fountain. I gasped, and it broke.
“Was that me?” I questioned Dr. Griffith.
“Yes, that was all you.” He smiled at me, “Now, to see what else you can do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you have an affinity for another element too.”
“Why do you think that?” My mind was reeling, I couldn’t believe I had done that. “I don’t think I want to know anymore.” This was too much for me to take in. I needed my mom and dad and my house. I didn’t want to be a part of this. I went to get my stuff.
“Sally, I know you are scared right now, but you can’t go back to your old life.”
“I disagree. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I will pretend this never happened.”
Dr. Griffith shook his head and spoke to me, “No, Sally, you can’t. It’s not safe.”
“Not safe?” I laughed at him. “What? Are you worried I’ll make a ball of water during class? Trust me, that’s not something I will be doing.”
“No, the Pulhu are going to be looking for you. They won’t stop until they have you, or they decide you aren’t a threat. They are not good people. They will use you or eliminate you if they can’t use you. I’m sure they are already in your town. That is why I told your mother to get you here immediately.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said, but a small kernel of doubt lodged in my heart. “Why would they be after me?”
“They come after all new elementals. They are a group that believes the prophecy must never be fulfilled. They would like to enslave the human race.”
“What prophecy?”
“That is a story for another day. Either way, you must stay here where you are protected. Most of this small town is safe. Once you are enrolled in this school, no one should be able to get to you. It is protected like one of our safe havens.”
“You mean I have to stay here? I can’t go home?”
“Yes, you must stay here where it is safe. I will speak to your parents. It is in your best interest.”
A thought came to me that made me stop. “What about my dad? He was still in town when we came here. He was going to be leaving today to come.”
“I already sent people to watch out for him and make sure he stays safe. For now, you need to focus on staying safe. You will meet others like you, and we will teach you how to use your powers. Eventually, you will be able to hide your power from them, and then you can go somewhere else if you wish it.”
“Does my mom know what I am?”
Maybe. Someone in your family had to be an elemental. The gifts are passed down through family, though sometimes they skip a generation or two.”
“I don’t even know how to tell her. What do I say?”
“You don’t have to say anything. I will talk to her about it. Everything will be fine.”
Dr. Griffith led me to another room that I hadn’t been in. It was a kitchen, and the nurse that had helped me before was piling food from a pot on the stove onto two plates.
“Here, dear,” the nurse said to me, “sit down and eat. It will make you feel better.”
As much as I didn’t believe anything could make my situation better, the food did smell amazing. “What is this?”
“An old family recipe passed down for generations,” she said warmly to me.
I realized I didn’t even know her name. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“I’m Mrs. Habbot, but everyone calls me Nana.”
“Mrs. Habbot,” I wasn’t sure how I felt about calling a lady I knew only a few minutes Nana, “this smells amazing. Thank you for taking the time to make me such a great lunch.”
“Please, dear, call me Nana.” She smiled and went back to the stove.
As I ate lunch, I watched Nana walk around the kitchen, trying to figure out if she had powers too. From what I could tell, she was just an older lady who worked here, but after the day I had, I wasn’t going to trust anything I thought. I was so caught up in staring at Nana, I didn’t even realize someone else had come into the kitchen until Dr. Griffith spoke.
“Abby, this is Sally. She is going to be staying at the school with us for a while.”
“Hi, Sally,” Abby bounced around the table to look at me. “How are you doing? What is your element? Can you do anything cool?” Abby’s mouth kept moving, but I couldn’t concentrate. Everything that was happening to me suddenly felt very real. This girl knew I was an elemental, and I hadn’t even spoken yet. She seemed to realize I was upset and tried to backpedal. “I’m sorry, Sally. I know I talk too much. I can’t help myself. I always ask too many questions.”
I took a deep calming breath. “It’s all right, Abby. You didn’t upset me. I’m very new to all of this.” Her eyes lit up, and I finally got the chance to look at her. She was about my age with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She also looked like she spent a lot of time in the sun. “I think I need some time to get used to everything Dr. Griffith has told me.”
“You mean you don’t know anything about elementals?”
“Sally just learned about this yesterday, give her a chance to catch up,” Dr. Griffith laughed.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
I laughed and smiled at her. “It’s fine. Dr. Griffith is right. I still need to figure this all out, but I’m glad I got to meet you.”
She turned to walk out the back door. “Bye, Sally. I can’t wait to see you again.”
“Bye, Abby.”
“Why don’t we go finish up your tests for today and plan what will happen tomorrow?” Dr. Griffith asked.
I nodded at him.
“Goodbye, Nana,” I yelled over my shoulder.
“Goodbye. I will see you soon. Be safe.”
Dr. Griffith led me to a couch in the corner of a room with a fireplace. The fire was burning softly, so it didn’t feel too warm. After sitting in my seat, I watched as Dr. Griffith took his folder out. He seemed to always have it with him.
“What are we doing now?” I questioned.
“We are going to see if you have an affinity for fire next. Tomorrow we will test you on earth and air.”
Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series Page 2