Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  Johnathon turned towards me, looking uncomfortable.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I heard there was going to be a new student, and I wanted to be the first one to meet you.” He looked down at the ground kicking his shoe against the floor. I couldn’t help but smile a little. He looked like he was around fifteen. He didn’t seem to be threatening, so I turned to face him.

  “It’s fine, Jonathan,” I told him, “but don’t do it again.” I smiled at him as he looked up at me.

  “Ok.”

  He reminded me of my friend’s younger brother.

  “I want to be the one to show you around,” he said.

  “Johnathon,” said Mrs. Sullivan, “don’t you have classes you should be attending?”

  “Not yet, Mrs. Sullivan,” he replied respectfully. “I have a break for the next thirty minutes. Please, can I show Sally around?”

  Mrs. Sullivan laughed. “Ok, Johnathon, you can show her where the common rooms are. Bring her to my office before you go to class.”

  “Yes!” Johnathon jumped up and down. “Come on, Sally. I will show you everything,” he said, and then he was gone, jogging down the hallway fast enough that I had to jog too.

  “Johnathon, slow down. This isn’t a race,” I admonished him. He got that sheepish look back on his face.

  “I’m sorry. This is so exciting. I get to show the new kid around. Plus, I got to meet you before everyone else. By the way, call me Tider. That’s what I like to be called.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I’m a water elemental, so Tider like the tides in the ocean that control the water level.” He looked at me sideways. “What are you?”

  He must have seen the look I gave him. I didn’t even think about the fact that he had to be an elemental. I don’t know how I didn’t put it together right away. “It’s ok if you don’t want to tell me,” he said though I could tell I hurt his feelings.

  “It’s not that Johna...Tider. I just didn’t realize everyone here would have powers too. This is all new for me.”

  He thought about what I said, and his face lit up. “So you’ll tell me?”

  “Of course. Dr. Griffith tested me on fire and water, so I guess I have fire and water magic.” I hoped I said that right. I didn’t have a clue how to talk about this stuff.

  “Whoa, you have two elements. That’s so awesome. You are going to be just like me. Can you use both at the same time? Because if you can, that would make you super special.”

  “What?” I asked him. “Can’t most people use two elements?”

  “Nah, we only have a few who can do that, but one of them isn’t going to be happy to have another person like him. He likes all the attention.” I could hear the frustration in his voice.

  “You don’t like him?” I could tell something was off, and I wanted as much information as possible, so I didn’t make myself look like a fool in front of the wrong person.

  Tider looked around the hall to make sure no one was nearby and lowered his voice. “No, I don’t. He isn’t a good guy.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked him.

  He looked at me reluctantly and then looked away. I could tell this was really bothering him, and I wanted to help if I could. Tider seemed like a great kid.

  “It’s ok, Tider, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone.” Now I was worried about Tider. What could make such a happy, excitable person this uncomfortable?

  “I can see auras,” he replied quickly. “No one but Dr. Griffith and Mrs. Sullivan know, and they told me I should keep it to myself. Most people don’t want anyone to be able to tell what they are thinking or feeling.”

  “You can do that? Do you know what I’m thinking.”

  “It’s not like that. It’s more feelings. I can tell you aren’t sure if you believe me, but you are willing to give me a try, and that you’re scared, but nobody else would know that. You hide it well,” he said quickly, “and you are a little sad. I’m guessing because you can’t see your parents. How did I do?” he asked with a smile.

  “Wow. You are good. I didn’t know that was a skill.”

  “There are a lot of different skills, but some of them are more common than others. Anyway, don’t tell anyone what I can do,” he said and then moved to the next door. “Here, this is the cafeteria.” I looked in the room he opened the door to. It looked like a small cafe. There were stations along the walls for drinks and snacks, and in the center were two different areas that a few ladies were stocking with sandwiches and salads. Along the back wall was another area.

  “This is where everyone meets up to eat. All of our meals are served here. You can eat in here, or you can go out the side door to a courtyard and garden on nice days. That’s where I prefer to eat. You can join me if you want.” He smiled, and I thought it would have been nice to have a younger brother if he was anything like Tider.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I told him. “I’ll look for you at lunchtime.” He looked excited that I would sit with him, which made me feel bad. I still couldn’t figure out why anyone would treat him badly, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to tell me. “What other rooms should I know about?” I asked him.

  “Let’s go to the library next. It’s close by.” Tider walked us to the library and opened the double doors. “Not many people hang out in here,” he said, “it’s usually pretty empty unless exams are coming up.”

  I barely heard him as I walked inside. It was gorgeous. Couches filled the middle of the room, and a staircase led to an upper level. There was a fireplace in the corner of the room. Facing it was a small couch and a few armchairs nestled around it. I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time in this room.

  Tider laughed, “So you like books a lot. Your colors went bright purple when you came in here. You must be incredibly happy.”

  I looked at him. “I am. I love books. You can lose yourself in a story for hours and be anything you want,” I said, my eyes shining with delight at all the books I could read.

  “I hate to take you away from this, but we need to head back before my class starts. There are a couple of rooms along the way that I’ll point out to you as we go.” He bounced up on his toes in his impatience as I kept looking around.

  “Ok, ok. I’m coming,” I laughed at him.

  As we walked back to Mrs. Sullivan’s office, Tider pointed out a door that led to a game room and theatre. “We can look at those later or tomorrow. I forgot. When you come into the school, there are four wings. The East wing is where the girl’s rooms are, and the West wing is for the guys. Classes are held mostly in the North wing, and the common areas are in the middle.”

  “What about the South wing?”

  “That has been closed off since I came here. Nobody talks about it, so I’m not sure what happened there.” He stopped in front of a door with a nameplate for Mrs. Sullivan. “Have fun at your classes. I’ll see you around lunch, right?” Tider seemed unsure now that he was leaving me.

  “Of course. I’ll see you later, Tider,” I called as he dashed down the hall.

  Chapter Four

  I looked at the door and felt my happiness disappear. Tider had been a great distraction, but now I had no one to keep my mind occupied. I decided to get this part of my day over with and knocked on the door. From inside, I heard Mrs. Sullivan call for me to enter.

  “Hi, Sally. Did Johnathon show you around?”

  I was confused until I remembered Tider’s actual name was Johnathon. “Yes, Mrs. Sullivan. He did an excellent job.”

  “I knew he would, or else I wouldn’t have left you with him. He’s a good kid. I have your schedule all set up. Abby will be here in a few minutes to take you to class.” I took the schedule and started reading. My first class was called beginner origins of fantastical myths. My eyebrows rose. I also had beginner magic and beginner mind over matter classes. The other classes were math and english but no science or social studies.

  “These classes sound interesting,” I
said to Mrs. Sullivan. She picked up my incredulous tone of voice and turned away from whatever was on her desk.

  “Yes, these classes are different, but so are you. When your teachers feel you have progressed enough, you will be advanced to the next class until you are in your year.”

  “Wait, you mean I’m going to be taking classes with a bunch of kids?” I asked, concerned.

  “Yes. Everyone that comes here goes through the same thing even though your case is rare. Besides, you will be with your grade level for basic classes.”

  “What do you mean it’s rare?”

  “Most powers have awoken by the time a person is ten to twelve years old, so they are usually sent here around that age. Your powers did not awaken until now if I’ve been told correctly.”

  “I didn’t realize it was rare.” I felt like a freak. I was going to be laughed at for having to go to class with ten-year-olds.

  “Don’t worry,” Mrs. Sullivan said. “No one is going to bother you about it.” I didn’t believe her, but before I could protest, someone knocked on the door.

  “Abby, thank you for helping Sally get accustomed to the school. Here is a late pass for your next class.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Sullivan,” Abby said before grabbing my hand and dragging me into the hall.

  “Let me see your schedule.” Abby grabbed it out of my hands. “Oh, you have all beginner classes.” She smiled at me. “I’ll help you practice so you can advance to the higher classes with me. What do you think? Isn’t the school awesome?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her cheerfulness. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen a lot of it yet, though Tider took me on a tour of the common areas.”

  She looked thoughtfully at me. “You met Johnathon?”

  “Yep. Why? Don’t you like him?”

  “I don’t know him,” she laughed nervously, “but a lot of people don’t. His powers don’t freak you out?”

  “Why would they? We all have powers.” I was starting to feel like maybe Tider didn’t tell me everything about his powers.

  “I don’t know,” replied Abby. “Anyway, let’s go find your first class. Follow me,” she sped down the hallway. Talking about Tider had made her uncomfortable. As I followed her through the halls, she pointed out little things so I could find my way again. I was sure the first few days I would be lost more often than not.

  “Here,” Abby said, stopping in front of a door. “This is beginner magic. You already missed your first class. I will show you that one tomorrow. I will be back here after class is over. I’m allowed to leave a few minutes early from my class. Wait for me if I’m not here, so you don’t get lost. Sound good?”

  “Sounds good,” I replied, but she was already headed off down the hall to her own class.

  I pushed the door open apprehensively and stepped inside. A booming voice spoke from the other side of the room. “Hello, Sally. I’m Mr. Connor. I will be your teacher for beginner magic. Please come in and sit down.” I looked around the room as I walked in. Most of the kids were around twelve years old. There was an empty seat towards the back of the room, and I headed there quickly.

  “Everyone, this is Sally. She will be joining us until she advances to her next class. I want you all to treat her nicely.” Mr. Connor started his lecture. I was fascinated and listened intently through the entire thing.

  “Remember what we talked about, you can use your magic anywhere as long as your element is nearby. It is rare for a master to not be able to use his element. Air is the easiest element since air is everywhere. Earth is also easy to find. Water can be a bit trickier if you aren’t a strong elemental, but you can use the water vapor in the air. Even in the desert, if you are strong enough, you can bring water to the surface from below the ground. The stronger you are, the more water you can bring to yourself to use. Fire is the hardest to find in nature, but most fire elementals carry a lighter or matches around. Even the smallest flame can be built into something bigger. There will be a test coming up soon on it.”

  The whole class groaned. The bell rang, and everyone headed towards the door. Mr. Connor called me to his desk to schedule an appointment to test me for air that evening since Dr. Griffith didn’t have a chance. I walked out into the hallway to follow Abby to my next class. She was already starting down the hall before she asked me what I thought of Mr. Connor’s lesson.

  “It was good. I really enjoyed the lecture, even though we didn’t do anything practical. Mr. Connor is a good teacher.”

  She laughed. “He is my favorite teacher too. He makes everything easy to understand and doesn’t give us tons of homework. Next, you have Mrs. Shaw. She is a good teacher as long as you work hard in her class. I don’t think you’ll have any problems and if you need any help she always has time available, or you can ask me. After your class, I will show you the way to the lunchroom. All the students have lunch at the same time. It makes things easier since there aren’t many of us. Here is your next class, beginner mind over matter,” Abby said. “We’ll talk more at lunchtime. Good luck. Listen to everything Mrs. Shaw says. And take lots of notes.”

  “I’ll see you at lunchtime,” I smiled at her.

  “Mrs. Abeneb, hurry to your seat,” Mrs. Shaw said as I walked in the door. “Now everyone, let’s answer some questions for Sally. Timothy, why must we learn to strengthen our minds?”

  “We need to strengthen our minds so that no one else can hear what we are thinking.”

  “Andrew, why would people be listening to what we are thinking?” Mrs. Shaw called on a boy sitting near the front of the class.

  “Some people with power don’t make good choices and choose to use dark magic. They would listen to what we think to get us to do what they want.”

  “Good,” Mrs. Shaw said. “Now, Tabitha, tell everyone how we should strengthen our minds.”

  “We start by thinking of a wall. You have to picture every inch of the wall in your mind and keep making it stronger. The stronger your wall, the stronger your mind.” Tabitha sounded a little unsure of herself.

  “That’s correct,” Mrs. Shaw said. “This is the first lesson in our class. Everyone has been working on it for a while, Sally. Every day you must picture this wall three to four times, always making it stronger. When you think it is strong enough, we will test it out. On to our next lesson. Jennifer, tell Sally how we use elements with our minds.”

  “Well,” Jennifer said, “you have to have a powerful mind to be able to use magic. If you don’t believe you can do something, then you can’t do it. So you have to think that water can float even though gravity is trying to pull it down. Once you no longer worry about what can be done scientifically, you can use your element easily.”

  “Wonderful, Jennifer. Do you understand, Sally?”

  “I think so,” I said, but I wasn’t sure I really did.

  “You will have to work on those things on your own time, Sally. Who wants to tell Sally what we are working on now?” I noticed Jennifer’s hand went up in the air right away with one or two other people putting theirs up quickly too. “Hannah, go ahead.”

  “Right now, we are working on how to focus on one object while also trying to do menial tasks at the same time.”

  “Very good. I will give everyone something to focus on and a task to do. Try your hardest.” Mrs. Shaw started walking around the room, telling each child what to focus on and do. Most were told to clap their hands or stand on their tiptoes. A few had to walk up and down the aisle. I wasn’t sure what this was supposed to accomplish but figured I would give it a try. Mrs. Shaw came to my desk.

  “Sally, you are to focus on that flower pot on the window ledge. Picture every aspect of it in your mind. Once you have that firmly in your mind, begin hopping on one foot switching feet every ten hops.” I looked at her incredulously. This was ridiculous. “You need to be able to do this.” Couldn’t she have given me something easier? After all, it was my first day, and all the other kids had easy things like walking or lifti
ng their hands up.

  I looked at the flower pot and started memorizing the details. It was a clay pot with a blue swirl that began in the center and moved outwards. I could see it meeting up on both sides with lines from other swirls on the sides of the pot. It looked like a typical potting soil mix, with the white beads in it. A thick green stem rose into the air about six inches. At the top was a beautiful purple flower with fragile petals and a bright yellow center. Two large dark green leaves connected to the stem and curved down at the tip.

  I held the picture in my mind before a flash of something out the window distracted me. I tried to see what it was, but all I saw was the forest surrounding the back of the school grounds. There wasn’t anything there. Maybe it was a bird or squirrel, I thought to myself, again trying to hold the picture of the flower in my mind. As soon as I thought I was focused enough, I started to hop on my left foot. The image in my mind wavered, but I started focusing again, and it came back to me.

  I switched legs, realizing I hadn’t counted the number of times I had hopped. I tried counting while hopping and focusing and almost fell over. Around me, the other kids didn’t seem to be having much luck either. My mind started to drift, even though I tried to stay focused.

  I thought about my parents and wondered when I would get to say goodbye to them. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too late. I didn’t want them leaving in the dark. I could go see Mrs. Sullivan and ask her. I bet she would know. Maybe she could reassure me that no one was going to hurt them too. I was worried about dad getting hurt even more.

  By the end of class I was ready to get something to eat and talk to Abby and Tider so they could distract me. Abby met me outside Mrs. Shaw’s room, and we headed for the cafeteria.

  “Hey, Sally,” a voice behind me said.

  “Tider, how’s it going,” I smiled at him. “Sit down and join us.” He looked at Abby nervously.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. Why not?” I followed his gaze to Abby. She hadn’t stopped staring at him. She looked scared, which didn’t make any sense. Tider was a sweet kid. “Abby, are you all right?”