Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  “Sure. I…” Tider and I looked at each other. He shrugged, but I could tell he knew something.

  “Out with it, both of you,” I said a little sharper than I intended. They both looked at me. “Come on, tell me what the problem is. I’m new here, so I don’t know all the ins and outs. You two have a problem with each other. I like you both, so I want to know what happened.” I was hoping that Abby would loosen up a bit if she saw that Tider wasn’t going to do anything.

  “It’s fine, Sally,” Tider looked down, “I will go find a different place to eat.”

  “Tider is dangerous,” Abby said quickly.

  I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. Tider dangerous? There was no way. He was shy, funny, smart, maybe a bit hyper and reckless, but I was having trouble believing he was dangerous.

  “Hey,” Tider said. “You don’t have to laugh that much.”

  “I’m sorry.” I could barely get the words out. His face had reddened in embarrassment, and he looked about twelve years old, standing with his arms crossed over his chest and a big pout on his face. “I just can’t… You really believe that, Abby?”

  “Please, Sally. You shouldn’t make Johnathan upset.”

  “Johnathon? Oh, you mean Tider. Abby, it’s all right. He’s my friend. He would never hurt us. Right Tider?” I leaned over and affectionately ruffled his hair.

  “Abby, look at him. Does he look terrifying?”

  “No,” Abby gulped.

  “Tider, are you going to hurt Abby?” I asked him seriously.

  “Of course not,” he replied.

  “See. You are safe from Tider.” I smiled at her. “Sit down, Tider. Let’s enjoy lunch before it’s over. I still want to know why Abby is so scared of you.”

  He looked sheepish. “I come from a long line of dangerous elementals.”

  “That’s it?”

  “You don’t understand,” he ran a hand through his hair. “They are the worst of the worst out there. They practice dark magic and have no respect for anyone else unless they are more powerful. I am supposed to follow in their footsteps when I finish school.”

  “Do you want to follow them?” He didn’t answer right away, and I got a queasy feeling in my stomach.

  “No,” he finally said, “but I don’t know if I’ll have a choice. Power corrupts, and I have a lot of power.”

  “I don’t believe that. I think if you don’t want to do something, no one can make you. It’s always your choice.”

  “You really believe that?” he looked thoughtfully at me.

  “Absolutely. Now, what else happened because I doubt that’s the only reason Abby is so quiet.”

  “When I first came here, I had very little control and a huge temper. That’s why my family brought me here in the first place. They couldn’t control me either. When I would get upset, things would start flying through the air. Tiny jets of water would shoot from everywhere. I didn’t know how to stop it. During my first week, one of the boys made fun of me and said I was stupid after I got something wrong in class. He continued bothering me all week, following me around to bully me.

  “I finally couldn’t control it anymore, and a torrent of water picked him up and held him against the ceiling for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Mrs. Sullivan came in and helped me get control over it. The boy was bruised and had a bloody lip and sprained wrist but was otherwise fine. From that day forward, everyone in the school refused to talk to me except the teachers. They were scared I would do the same thing to them. I was too angry to correct the few people who tried to ask me about it.”

  His story broke my heart. No one deserved to be treated that way. Especially when he was so young and couldn’t control himself.

  “I never heard it from your side before,” Abby said quietly. “The way it is told by everyone else has you doing it for fun. I didn’t realize Sean had treated you so badly and forced you to lose control of your powers. I’m sorry.”

  Tider looked at her for a long time, trying to see if she meant what she said. “It’s ok,” he shrugged. “I didn’t do anything to help people like me more anyway.”

  “Who is Sean?”

  Abby hesitated before her shoulders slumped, “He’s my stepbrother.”

  I threw my hands up. “Is he really as bad as Tider thinks?”

  “Probably worse. His mom has spoiled him rotten since his dad left them. She thinks he can’t do anything wrong. A few times a year, his father comes and takes him. He is always worse when he gets back from those trips. My dad loves his mom though, so I’m stuck with him.”

  “Doesn’t your dad realize what a jerk he is?”

  “Sometimes. He has tried to interfere with Sean’s behavior, but it always causes a huge fight with his mom, so dad doesn’t get involved now. He mostly ignores it or agrees with whatever she says.”

  “Abby,” Tider said. “I know you are scared of me, but tell me if he bothers you. You don’t deserve that kind of treatment. He should know better.”

  Abby let out a small smile. “You don’t have to protect me, Tider, but thank you for offering.”

  “Sure,” grumbled Tider.

  “So you have two elements so far,” Abby said, trying to change the subject.

  “What do you mean so far?” Tider asked.

  “She didn’t test for air or earth yet. Can you imagine if she has all four powers?”

  “What do you mean four powers? I thought there were five.”

  “There is, but no one has void. I don’t know if they can even test for that,” Abby said.

  “When are they doing your air test?” Tider asked.

  “Mr. Connor wants to test me for it after dinner. I doubt I’ll have it. I already have two, and that’s pretty rare. What are the chances that I would have three?”

  “Incredibly small chances. Want to test it out now?” Tider asked. “I can talk you through it. It’s one of my powers.”

  “I don’t know if we should. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

  “Like you said, what are the chances you actually have it? You probably won’t be able to do anything. Besides, if you do have it, don’t you want to know before you make a mistake in class.”

  He had a point, even though I didn’t think it was a good idea. “Fine, but something small. What do you think, Abby?”

  “I think you can test it, and if you do have it keep it hidden except for Mr. Connor. We can always ask him what he thinks you should do if you have it. I actually am starting to think that you need to keep all your powers hidden so people don’t know how strong you are.”

  “Why?”

  “You know about the Pulhu, right?”

  “Yes, Dr. Griffith said something about them.”

  “They are very dangerous. I don’t think they could get in the school to get to you, but if you have another element, they might try something.”

  “I think I need more information on these guys.”

  “I will tell you all about them. Most of my family is associated with them in one way or another. But right now we need to test you before the bell rings,” Tider said.

  “Ok, what do you have in mind?” I put all my other questions away until we had more time to discuss everything.

  “Put your plate down and come stand by the stream. There are fewer trees so you can feel a slight breeze. Now close your eyes and hold your hands out, feeling the breeze ripple across your fingertips.” I did as he said and quickly felt the breeze moving across my hands.

  “Now try to gently wrap the air around your hands. This is a beginner lesson. Once you get the air to wrap around your hands, try to get it to wrap around your whole body like a bubble, that’s an intermediate lesson.” In my mind, I saw the air as silver streams flowing in front of me. I slowly encouraged one of those streams to wrap around my hands and then up my arms. I lost myself in the moment and allowed the air to wrap around my whole body like a cocoon.

  “Open your eyes, Sally, but don’t
stop concentrating,” Tider said. As I did, I was shocked to actually see air swirling around me.

  “This is amazing.”

  “Keep concentrating and bring a ball of water from the stream over to you and let it fall on you. It’s awesome,” he was smiling, and I could tell he wasn’t surprised to see me use air. I looked at Abby. She was staring at my air bubble in wonder. I had a great idea and walked over to her and grabbed her hand. The air parted easily for me, and with a thought, I expanded the bubble to fit over her too.

  “How cool is this?” I asked her. There was a slight distortion to the outside world, but I thought with practice I could make that go away. I walked over to Tider, dragging Abby with me and grabbed his hand to pull him into the bubble too.

  “This is really good, Sally. You have way more air power than me, but yours is still raw. That’s why it’s distorted. With practice, it will be completely clear.” Tider said.

  “Try to grab the water now. I found this out when I was practicing the air bubble in the rain. I can’t wait for you to see it,” he sounded like a super excited kid waiting for a present.

  I didn’t need to focus on the air to keep it around us, but I tried to focus on it with part of my brain to make sure I didn’t lose it when I reached for water. Once I was ready, I closed my eyes and thought about a ball of water lifting out of the stream and coming to rest above us. I felt a lot of resistance but continued pulling the ball of water towards me.

  I was sweating with exertion by the time I felt like it was above me. I opened my eyes and looked up happy to see that it was right where I wanted it, but it was much bigger than I had pictured. I was going for balloon sized, This was at least ten times that amount. “Should I let it go?”

  “Yes,” Tider looked at me slightly concerned, “you are using a lot of energy.”

  I felt beat, but I wasn’t about to tell them that. “I’m letting it go now.” We all looked up as the water burst above us. As it hit the air, it caused a beautiful rainbow of colors to light up all around us. It was like a different world inside our bubble with the most beautiful light show. It only lasted a few seconds before it was over. I felt Tider let his air go, and I tried to do the same. “Tider, how do I let the air go?”

  He turned to look at me. His brow creased in surprise, “Picture the air unwinding itself from around you and flowing back in the natural direction it is supposed to go.”

  I did as he said. “I think I let it go.”

  “What do you mean you think you did?”

  “I did what you said, but I don’t feel any different. When I was holding the water, I felt a lot of resistance, but when I let it go, that resistance stopped. Shouldn’t it feel like that with air too?”

  “Yes, you should feel your energy depleting when using an element, but it should stop once you let go,” he looked at me closely, and I could feel him pulling air from around me. “I don’t think you are using any air power right now. You didn’t feel any reduction in your energy when you started using air?”

  “No,” I told him.

  “I’m pretty sure you aren’t using it, so you should be fine, but if you start getting really tired, we will need to tell a teacher so Dr. Griffith can check on you. I think you have a strong air element, so this didn’t really use up any of your energy.”

  Abby was still looking a bit dazed. “You ok, Abbs?” I asked her.

  “That was amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

  “I’m glad you liked it. I did too. We have Tider to thank for the light show. I would have never thought of it.”

  “Thanks, Tider,” Abby said.

  Tider looked away quickly, but not before I saw his cheeks redden, “No problem. I wanted to see what Sally could do.”

  “Sally, you have the air, and you can use two elements at once. This is so cool,” she gushed, “but we have to keep this a secret. I think we need to tell Mrs. Sullivan though. She’ll know what to do.”

  The bell rang, and we all looked towards the lunchroom. Anything else we wanted to say would have to wait. We needed to get to class.

  Chapter five

  “Sally, come with me. We have afternoon classes together since they are regular classes,” Abby said.

  Tider grabbed his stuff and went to leave. “Sally, I’ll see you at dinner.”

  “Thanks for the help today. Don’t get in any trouble.” I winked at him knowing he was disappointed he couldn’t come with us. He finally had some friends, and he didn’t want to leave us.

  We watched him walk away and then grabbed our stuff and hurried through the lunchroom into the hall. We turned into the North wing and ran up the steps. We made it to Mr. Magni’s class before the bell rang again. There were tables scattered throughout the room, and I followed Abby over to the one closest to the teacher’s desk.

  I took the seat next to her and waited for the teacher to come in. Everyone was focused on getting to their desks and getting their work out. So far, I hadn’t had any books for my classes, but I noticed the other kids had a math book out and a notebook and pencil.

  “Abby, I don’t have a book. I didn’t need one for my first two classes.”

  “You got lucky. Normally you would take notes in all your classes. Here,” she handed me some paper and a pencil, “I’m sure Mr. Magni will have a math book for you.”

  “Of course I do,” came the quiet voice of Mr. Magni. “You must be our new student. Sally, right?”

  “Yes, Mr. Magni,” I said.

  “Good, good,” Mr. Magni pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose to look at me. “I don’t think you are going to be any trouble, are you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Well then, as long as you try your best and ask questions when you don’t understand something, like Miss Abigail here, you will do wonderfully in this class,” he stated. He turned to go to the whiteboard set up in the front of the class. He started writing a problem down when a commotion from the hallway caused him to look up.

  “I don’t care about what you want,” a boy said angrily

  “My dad will hear about this,” another boy’s voice shouted.

  “So what?” the first boy said. “What can he do to me? Nothing, that’s what. You are a spoiled brat who can’t stand it when someone doesn’t bow to your wants. I’ve never given you what you want before, and I’m not about to now. No matter how much you threaten me,” the first boy stated. He sounded as if he was gritting his teeth, and I admired the way he stood up to the other person without yelling back at them.

  “Excuse me, boys,” Mr. Magni said to the boys as he got to the door. “I don’t think now is the appropriate time for you to be arguing about this.”

  “Whatever old man,” the second boy said in a huff as he pushed past the teacher.

  “Yes, Mr. Magni,” the first boy said.

  “Thank you, Richard.” Mr. Magni said to the first boy.

  I looked at Abby to see her glowering at the other boy. I realized that must be her half brother. No wonder she didn’t like him. He sounded like an arrogant jerk. I looked towards the other boy, Richard. He sat down and took out his books without glancing at anyone in the class.

  “Here, Sally,” Mr. Magni said as he handed me the homework from the night before. “Follow along as best you can.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Magni.”

  I looked down at my homework paper. I had learned all of this last semester in school, so I wasn’t lost like in the other classes. It didn’t take long to get through all the problems, and then Mr. Magni gave us a quiz.

  It was a quick pop quiz with only ten questions, and I finished in less than fifteen minutes. I brought my quiz up to Mr. Magni to grade and waited in line while he was grading Richard’s, who had beaten me up there by a minute. I overheard Mr. Magni talking to him.

  “Good job, Richard. All correct as usual.”

  “Thanks, sir. You know I love math,” I heard him say.


  “Yes,” Mr. Magni said, “I know you do, and it shows.”

  Richard took his quiz and headed back to his seat. He gave me a quick smile as he passed, and I moved forward to hand Mr. Magni my test.

  “Sally, you finished that quickly. Let’s see how you did,” he looked over my answers and smiled as he put an A on it. “Wonderful job,” he told me, “you know your stuff.”

  “I like math,” I told him. “It was my favorite subject at my other school, along with science.”

  “Those are my two favorite subjects too,” he said in a conspirators whisper and then laughed. “I think I will enjoy having you in my class, Sally.”

  I returned to my seat as he started grading the next person’s test. Abby was still sitting in her chair. She was biting her bottom lip, and I worried that it would be bloody before she finished. She looked up with a pained expression on her face as she handed in her test.

  “All right everyone, it’s time to move on. If you would all look at the board, we will start working on these problems.” The rest of the class passed in a blur. I finished all the problems and even answered a few out loud when Mr. Magni called on me. The bell rang sooner than I expected, and we quickly grabbed our things and left Mr. Magni’s class.

  “I’m never going to get this stuff,” Abby complained.

  “I will help you,” I told her. She looked a little happier after that. We only had a short walk to get to our next class, so we started talking about what the plan was for the evening as we found seats. I told Abby that I was supposed to go see my parents in the evening sometime.

  Our last class was incredibly dull. We had english and the only thing the teacher, Mrs. Newton, did was lecture about a book that we were supposed to be reading. She did give me a copy so I could catch up with everyone else. Nobody seemed very interested in the book or the class, so I figured this must be how it went every day.

  “I hope this class gets better,” I whispered to Abby when the teacher’s back was turned.