Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  “Your power is impressive, Sally, but we need to know what your limits are. We will have to try something larger. Why don’t you let everything down?” I let the objects down, and they crashed to the ground bouncing all over the place.

  “Sorry, Mr. Connor.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Sally. All of this can be picked up. We will need Richard for this next test. I want you to try to lift yourself off the ground. This is something that only the most powerful air elementals can do.”

  I closed my eyes and immediately saw silver air. I wrapped it partly around me and continued pulling it from all over the gym. When I felt like I had enough, I envisioned myself floating in the air. Immediately I could feel the weightlessness. I knew I had left the ground, and I felt myself getting higher and higher. I was ecstatic.

  This felt amazing. I wasn’t even tired and felt like I could do this all day. I opened my eyes, spread my arms out, and allowed myself a minute to enjoy the feeling. I started laughing and called for Richard to join me. He flew up into the air, and we started spinning around and flying back-and-forth until Mr. Connor called for us to come down.

  “Ok you two, I think that’s enough.” I started to lower myself to the ground gently, but I still hit pretty hard. “How do you feel, Sally?”

  “I feel amazing. It didn’t feel like I was using any energy at all. I thought you said I would get tired? I passed out when I used fire, so why is it different with air?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe air comes more naturally to you. We will have to try fire and see what happens. We will wait until next class. Even though you don’t feel tired, your body might be after using that kind of energy. I want you to go get something to eat and relax for the rest of the day.”

  I looked at the clock and realized almost two hours had already gone by. When I looked outside, the sun had already started to set.

  “Ok, Mr. Connor,” I told him, “this was a great class. Thank you.”

  “No problem. It will be interesting to see what you can do. You might even be more powerful than Richard,” he laughed.

  Richard scowled, “I don’t know about that.”

  I punched him on the arm and laughed, “I guess we’ll find out soon.”

  Richard and I left and started walking back to the school. It was already getting dark out, and I started feeling like we were being watched. As I looked behind me for the third time, Richard walked closer to me. “Are you ok?”

  My body started to tingle the same way it did right before I was attacked last time. From the woods to our right, we heard the crack of a branch, and we both jumped.

  “Richard,” I kept my voice down, “there’s someone out there. What do we do?”

  “We will run on the count of three. Go as fast as you can. Get to the school. We don’t want them to see you use power, so let me handle it. One, two.” At that moment, we heard running behind us.

  “Richard. Sally.” Mr. Connor yelled. “I’ve been trying to catch up to you. You shouldn’t be walking alone out here. I didn’t think about it until after you left and had to hurry to catch you.” I felt the hairs on the back of my neck lay down and no longer felt someone watching us. They must’ve left when they saw Mr. Connor coming.

  “There was someone in the woods,” I told Mr. Connor. “We were just getting ready to make a run for it and hopefully get back to the school in time before anyone attacked.”

  “I don’t think that it’s one of the Pulhu. They wouldn’t be able to get on the school grounds. It is possible that one of the students followed you out here to try and figure out what you could do.”

  Richard and I headed towards the cafeteria once we got to the school, and Mr. Connor headed the other way. Abby and Tider were waiting for us and started asking questions before I even had a chance to eat.

  “Hang on, Abbs,” I told her. “I need to eat something first, and besides, we need to keep this all quiet, remember.”

  “Oh yeah, sorry,” Abby said. “I can’t wait to hear what happened.”

  I lowered my voice and checked to make sure no one was eavesdropping, “Not much happened. Mr. Connor tested my air magic to see how strong it is.”

  “And?” Abby questioned, “How did you do?”

  “I can lift myself off the ground.” I couldn’t help but smile. “That was the most exciting part. The rest of the time he had me lifting random objects up. I had no trouble with that. I can’t seem to put them down gently though.”

  “Wow, you are even more powerful than I thought.”

  “You guys can get Richard to tell you everything else. Now that I’ve eaten, I’m starting to get tired,” I stifled a yawn. “Maybe today’s lesson took more out of me than I expected.”

  Chapter Eight

  A banging on the door woke me, and I staggered to my feet as Abby barged in. “Why are you still in bed?”

  I grabbed my clothes and started to pull them on. “Why are we up so early? Classes don’t start till eight.”

  “I guess I forgot to tell you. We have a practical every quarter. I always get up early, so I can enjoy my breakfast and get a good spot in the auditorium. We should hurry up, or we are going to be stuck waiting in line for breakfast,” she started to open my door.

  “Wait, wait, wait. I need to finish getting dressed. Don’t open the door.”

  “Oops,” said Abby. “I guess I didn’t realize you were only half ready,” I pulled my jeans on and hurried into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair.

  We walked to the cafeteria, and I tried to listen as Abby told me all about the different things we would have to do. By the time we finished eating, Tider and Richard had shown up. We waited for them to finish before we headed to the auditorium. I had never been there before, and I was surprised when we headed downstairs.

  “I didn’t know there was a lower level.”

  “Yeah, there is a staircase in each wing that leads to the lower level, but it’s mostly a few large rooms down here. There is the auditorium, a potions room, and the other rooms are always locked, but I think they are storage,” Richard said.

  “A potions room?”

  “Yep,” Tider said. “Mrs. Shaw makes potions from different plants for anyone who needs it.” I looked skeptically at them.

  “Hey, her stuff works. She even cured me of the flu last year. You’ll see, as soon as you get sick, she will make you drink something, and you’ll be better in a few hours instead of days. Then you’ll believe me,” Tider said. We walked into the auditorium, and Abby immediately went for the front row.

  Mrs. Sullivan stepped forward. “Hello, everyone. Today we will be doing practicals. Everyone knows the rules, and I’m sure no one will be trying to cheat,” she raised her eyebrow at someone behind me, and a few kids snickered.

  “After we have completed calling all the names and you have met with your teacher, everyone should head to Felan field.” She looked back at the students, “Remember which teacher called your name, and meet with them after all the names have been called.”

  Each teacher stepped forward as they called a name from a piece of paper in their hands. Mr. Magni called my name. Abby was called by Mr. Magni too, and I gave her a small hug, glad that we would be together. As soon as the last name was called, we hurried out of our seats to see Mr. Magni.

  “Hi, girls,” Mr. Magni said to us as we approached him. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m not sure I will be any good at this,” I told him.

  “Nonsense. I’m sure you will do a wonderful job,” he told me. He turned to the rest of our group. I didn’t know any of the other kids, but Abby said hi to a few of them.

  “We will be heading to Felan field and meeting at the South side by the red flag. I need to check off your name and then you can head over that way. I will meet you there in ten minutes.”

  Abby led us towards a door right outside the girl’s wing that led to Felan field. When we stepped onto the field, I realized it was in the center of the girl’s wing
. Each wing seemed to be a large u-shape that connected to the common areas. I wondered if the other wings also had a field in the center of them.

  I walked with Abby over to the red flag and saw Mr. Magni already there. He had red shirts for everyone to put on and then had us all stand next to each other. Mrs. Sullivan’s voice boomed across the field. I could just barely make her out in the middle of the field, standing on a box.

  “Students, in front of your line, there are four objects. You will be asked to make one object of your choosing move or change in some way. The more advanced you are, the more the object must move. Good luck.”

  Mr. Magni moved to the head of the line. Each line faced the center of the field where Mrs. Sullivan and the other teachers were walking around. I guessed they would be doing the judging. Mr. Magni told the student at the front of the line to do her best.

  I looked around the kid ahead of me and saw a young girl walk forward. She stopped in front of a bowl of water. She had her hands balled up tightly at her sides, and her shoulders were hunched over. The glass of water at her feet didn’t seem to be doing anything, but I heard her gasp and then lean over breathing heavily.

  “Good job, Elizabeth. You must be practicing a lot,” Mr. Magni said.

  “That was the biggest water drop you’ve done yet, Elizabeth,” the boy in front of me said proudly to her.

  I hadn’t even realized she had made a water drop. It must have been very small, but she seemed so happy. The kid in front of me had already stepped forward. He moved in front of a bowl with a candle in it. In front of him, Mr. Connor walked over to watch. As I looked at him, he caught my eye and shook his head slightly. I got the feeling that he didn’t want me showing my powers. How was I going to make sure I looked like a beginner?

  The boy in front of me managed to make the fire grow big enough to leap over the top of the bowl, and he looked at me with relief in his eyes. “You did great,” I told him as he passed.

  “You’ll do great too,” he said.

  “Sally, it’s your turn.” Mr. Magni said, “Go to your element and try to get it to move a little.”

  I stepped forward and looked at the bowls. One had fire, one had water, one had dirt, and the other had feathers. “Mr. Magni?”

  “What’s wrong, Sally? What is your element?” he asked me as I stared in confusion.

  “Air,” I told him.

  “That’s the bowl of feathers. It’s hard to see air, so we use the feathers to see what the air is doing. Why don’t you try to lift one of them up?”

  The two kids before me had barely been able to get their powers to do anything, and I wanted to seem like them. I pulled a tiny bit of air, and one feather slowly started to lift up in the bowl. I looked over where Mr. Connor was watching from the center, and his quick shake of the head and whispered no made me drop the air immediately, and the feather fell. I quickly turned and walked back towards the line.

  “That was excellent, Sally,” Mr. Magni said. “You must be a natural.”

  “Really?” I thought I was keeping a low profile.

  “Yes, being able to lift a single feather from the bowl is very tough to do, especially for someone so new to magic.”

  I groaned inwardly. That’s why Mr. Connor seemed upset. I should have moved all the feathers a little bit instead of singling out one. A beginner wouldn’t be able to pick one object for the air to go around. I hoped not too many people saw me. I got to the back of the line and waited for the next challenge, hoping I wouldn’t reveal myself.

  As the last person in our line finished up, I heard noise from across the field. I could see Tider pulling thin coils of water out of the bowl and letting them hang in the air in an intricate design. Suddenly, another loop of water shot out of the bowl and into the design obscuring it for a moment. When I could see the design again, it sparkled in ice.

  It looked like a million gems joined together in the sky to create a magical light show. The last coil of water encircled the design in a sphere, and Tider flicked his wrist as if giving the sphere a shake and snow started to fall inside. It took me a minute to realize he had made a snow globe out of only water. I began to smile. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to tell Tider how awesome it was.

  “Thank you for that dazzling display, Johnathon,” Mrs. Sullivan said as Tider’s design faded. “Now, your teachers will be splitting you up into partners, and you will be asked to find your element in the maze at the edge of the field. You are supposed to help your partner while at the same time trying to find your own. Remember you will get points not only for finding yours, but also in how well you help your partner. Your teachers will send the first group up in a minute, and one pair will go into the maze at a time. Once they are finished, the next pair will go and so on. When you come out of the maze, go back to your teacher, and they will tell you the third challenge.”

  I turned to Mr. Magni as he began calling out names to partner up. “Sally, Elizabeth, you two will be partners today. I’m sure you will do a fantastic job, just remember to work together.”

  “Hi, Elizabeth,” I said to her.

  “Hi,” she said shyly.

  “Is this your first time doing this?”

  “Yes, this is my first year at the school. I don’t have a lot of power compared to the other kids.”

  “I think you’re doing fine,” I told her. “This is my first year too. We’ll get through this. I’m sure with practice and time, you will get even stronger.”

  “I hope so,” she replied.

  I walked into the maze and turned to watch Elizabeth follow me. Once inside, the entrance closed behind us, and Elizabeth jumped.

  I reached over and grabbed her hand, “Come on, Elizabeth, I will help you.”

  She clung to my hand, and I started to lead her forward. “How do you find your element?”

  “I think we are supposed to be able to feel it. At least the teachers here said you should always be able to feel your element,” she said.

  “Ok, you control water, so let’s try to find that one first. Did the teachers tell you how you were supposed to feel your element?”

  “Not really, only that we should always be able to feel if it’s near.”

  “Hmmm. I don’t think that will work for me, air is all around us.”

  “But it’s very still in here. Maybe they have a big gust of air that you are supposed to feel,” she looked at me questioningly.

  “I guess,” I replied. “Let’s start with you. Can you feel water anywhere?”

  “Not yet. Maybe if we move further in?” We walked further through the maze, but Elizabeth didn’t seem to have any idea how to feel her element. I decided I would try to feel it too.

  “Let me see if I can feel mine,” I told her. I let go of her hand, closed my eyes, and concentrated on trying to find water. I felt a small tug in my midsection. I opened my eyes to see if Elizabeth had touched me, but she was just staring at me. I concentrated and again felt a small tug on my midsection. I turned in that direction and took a few steps. The tug felt stronger, so I figured that was the way to go.

  I didn’t want Elizabeth knowing I could feel the water element, so I turned and walked back the other way. The tug got weaker with each step. Now I knew how to find water. I concentrated on air this time, and I could feel a tug in a different direction. I went back to focusing on water and then turned to Elizabeth. “I think I felt something. You have to concentrate on your element, and your body should want to go towards it, at least that’s what I think it means.”

  Elizabeth closed her eyes to concentrate but didn’t move in any direction.

  “Are you feeling anything?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Here, take my hand, and we can start walking and see if you notice any changes.” I took her hand, “Keep your eyes closed and concentrate. I will lead us around the maze.”

  Elizabeth did what I said and kept her eyes closed as I started walking towards water. I didn’t want her to
know I was helping lead her in the right direction, so I stopped at every new path and asked her where she thought she was supposed to go. She didn’t get it right at all in the beginning, but as we got closer to water, she seemed to pick up on her element and chose the path with more confidence.

  We walked around another turn, and in front of us was a waterfall coming down over the maze. In front of it were small bottles. A sign said to fill it up and take it with us to turn in at the end of the maze. Elizabeth got a bottle of water.

  “We should go find yours. Do you have any idea where to go?”

  “I felt something back when we were at the beginning going the other way.” I lied to her. I could feel exactly where we needed to go. “I think we should go this way,” I led her back towards the beginning and made sure to make a few wrong turns along the way.

  “Do you need me to lead you the way you led me?”

  “I don’t think so, I think we are getting close,” I smiled at her. She was a very nice girl when she wasn’t scared. We made a few more turns and ended up staring at a bunch of mini tornados.

  “What are we supposed to do?” she asked me.

  I looked around and saw the same glass bottles from before. The sign in front of them said bottle a tornado to turn in at the end of the maze. “I guess I have to trap a tornado.”

  I walked up to the tornado and held my bottle up to it. I used a little air power to push the tornado in and then put the lid on.

  “Thanks, Sally, I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

  “I couldn’t have either. I didn’t even know how to feel for an element until you told me.”

  “We make great partners.”

  Behind us came a loud pop, and a door appeared. When it opened, Mrs. Sullivan was standing there. “Come on, girls. This way out of the maze. You both did an excellent job. Go turn your bottles in. Mrs. Chanley is waiting for you.” Mrs. Sullivan pointed to a table not far away.

  We walked over to the table and met with Mrs. Chanley. I hadn’t seen her before, but she smiled at me and called me by name. She didn’t look much older than thirty, and she had a t-shirt on that read totally hip teacher. I thought she would be a really cool teacher and hoped I would get her soon.