Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  “I have been staying up late, and I got up early this morning and couldn’t fall back asleep.”

  “You need to try to get some sleep, Sally. Otherwise, you won’t be able to do your extra classes. You will be too tired.”

  “I know, but there’s not much I can do about it.”

  I went to say something, but Tider stepped out of the dome. He waved his arms and ran towards us. “I can’t believe you’re taking a class with me. This is going to be awesome.”

  “I don’t know about awesome, Tider, but it is going to help me learn. Hopefully, I’ll learn everything I need to know by Christmas, so I can go see my family.”

  “Don’t worry, Sally. I’ll help you. I’m sure you’ll be able to get it. We better get inside, Mr. Connor is waiting.”

  We walked in and said hi to Mr. Connor before he turned to Richard, “Are you staying today to watch or to participate?”

  “I’m only here to watch. That way Tider and I can walk her back at the end of the lesson. There is one thing I was hoping you could work on with Sally today.”

  “What is that?” Mr. Connor asked.

  “We think someone is trying to spy on her. I have researched the best way to make a privacy bubble and was hoping we could teach her that first.”

  “Of course,” Mr. Connor said. “Since you have already learned how to make it, why don’t you show her first and then I can make sure both of you are doing it correctly. Tider, why don’t you do it too. This will be a good thing for you to learn.”

  Richard made an intricate symbol with his hands. I could feel the power flowing around him. He took his ring off, put it on the table in front of him, and channeled all that magic into his ring.

  “Sally, do you have anything like a ring or necklace that you can use to channel the spell?”

  “I have the necklace that my mother gave me,” I said, grabbing the necklace hidden in my shirt and pulling it out to show them. It was a heart-shaped locket, and in the center was a picture of me, my mom, and my dad. It was one of my favorite necklaces, and I always wore it.

  “That will work perfectly,” Richard said.

  “You need to focus on using all of your magic to create the spell. Picture your magic creating the barrier, and force your magic into the necklace.”

  “I don’t use only one element?”

  “No, you need to use all your elements and pull them together,” Richard said.

  “Why don’t you try to pull them all together at once now? Then we can do the rest of the spell once you get it,” Mr. Connor said.

  I tried using all of my elements together but couldn’t make it work.

  “I’m not sure how to do it. It isn’t working.”

  “There is something that we are doing wrong, but I can’t figure out what,” Richard said after a few more minutes of me trying.

  “Tider, you try and see if it works for you,” Mr. Connor said. Tider completed the spell without any issues.

  “What am I doing wrong?” I asked.

  “I think I know,” Tider said in a small voice.

  “Well, tell me.”

  “I don’t think you are going to like this.”

  “Come on, Tider. I can take a little criticism.”

  “It’s not criticism, Sally,” he said slowly. “I don’t think you are using all the elements that you have.”

  “What do you mean? I’m sure I am using them all,” I said, exasperated.

  “No, you don’t understand. I don’t think you are using all of your elements.”

  Richard shook his head, “No, that can’t be, can it?” he turned to Mr. Connor.

  “It’s possible, but I don’t know how to teach that.”

  “Can someone please tell me what is going on?”

  “We think you have void. It would make sense that the spell won’t work if you do. You have to use all your powers for this spell.”

  “I thought void was extremely rare.”

  “It is. But you may have it. You already have four elements which is rare. Why not one more?”

  “How do I know if I have it?”

  Mr. Connor shook his head. “I think you have to call on it like your other elements.”

  “What is void? The other elements are easy to picture. I don’t know what to picture for void. Is it like a black abyss?”

  “No. Void is everything that holds the universes together. I’m not really sure how to explain it.”

  “I think I can help,” Richard said, “I read this in a book a few months ago, and it stuck with me. Give me a minute to find it. I took a picture of it to use as a reference for a paper in class.”

  He pulled out his phone, looking for the description of void that he had read about. Once he found it, he started reading it out loud.

  “Void is like the blackness of space, it is all around us, but we can’t actually see it. There are no shadows to hide in and no light to bathe your spirit. There can only ever be emptiness, but even the emptiness can’t be bothered with you. To this part of the void you are a mere speck of life, nothing more than a grain of sand it has no desire to be around. But somewhere in this void there is a way through to the other side. None living shall ever be allowed through. It is where peace reigns, and there is only the feeling of love. Both are parts of the void though they are eternally separated. The void hears every whisper, every thought, every feeling of all things and decides what will be done with them. It is the master of all creation and destruction. It holds every object in the position it has chosen for them until they have served their purpose, and then it destroys them. To void there is no time. Everything is happening here and now, and it won’t stop for anything. The void is the most beautiful of your scariest dreams, for even in fear, there is beauty.”

  I looked at Richard as he spoke, and a chill crawled down my spine. This was an actual element that I was supposed to call on. A power that could destroy everything.

  “It doesn’t say who wrote it, but it goes on to talk about void as if the person had been there. It did say that there were a few people who could use void, but they had to choose to use either the light or the dark only. Once chosen there is no turning back. Supposedly both paths are filled with peril.”

  “How could using the light be filled with peril?”

  “I think it was something about when you use the light, you can’t do any magic that would cause harm.”

  “What about defending myself?”

  “I don’t know,” he threw up his hands and turned away. “That’s all it says, and for all I know, it could have been a crazy person who wrote it. I figured I should tell you what I knew so you could make an informed decision.”

  “I’m sorry, Richard.” I walked over and gave him a quick hug. “I’m glad you are helping me. I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m kind of freaking out about this right now. What if I screw up? I really don’t want to have these powers. It’s too much for me to handle.”

  “I wish I had better answers for you, but that’s the only thing I know.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mr. Connor said. “We will figure this out together. There are plenty of people who are willing to help you.”

  “Yeah, Sally, you know I will help,” Tider said.

  I looked at my friends and Mr. Connor and realized that I wasn’t alone. They would help me. I knew I was going to have to try to use void, especially if I wanted to be able to use any spells.

  “I will try to use void now, but I have to do something that won’t hurt anything in case what Richard said is true. Even if I can’t defend myself with magic, I refuse to use dark magic.”

  “Instead of trying to use void, why don’t you try to feel it. See if you can even access the magic. If you can, we will know that you have it, and you can use it for the privacy spell. That way, we can all research void and try to come up with appropriate spells to practice.”

  They all stepped back as I closed my eyes and tried to see void. I tried picturing it the way they had described,
but the more I thought about it, the more the picture changed. In my head, it looked similar to a galaxy, but on one side it was as dark and unforgiving as a black hole. On the other side, golden light burst from the center. Once I pictured it, I started to pull from it encouraging strands of the golden light to flow into me and down my arms.

  At first, some tendrils of black tried to come too, but I turned them back and only allowed in the light. As the magic filled me, all I could sense was perfect peace and love. Everything in my world felt right. I no longer had any fears or doubts. I knew exactly what my purpose was and how it could be done. I was content to stay that way forever until a voice broke in.

  “Sally.”

  I slowly let the golden light go and opened my eyes. I saw them all standing around me with smiles on their faces. “That was amazing,” I said.

  “We could feel it too,” Tider said happily.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so,” Richard struggled to find the word, “peaceful.”

  “That was wonderful, Sally. I can now say with as much certainty as I’m able, that you have void.” He smiled at me. “If the whole world could feel that, they wouldn’t do anywhere near as much fighting. You might have a way to fight back after all without hurting anyone.” He kept smiling, and I realized I was still smiling too. We all were.

  I started to giggle, “We are going to have to stop grinning like idiots before we go back to the school, or people are going to know something is up. None of you smile this much normally.”

  Mr. Connor laughed, “I suppose you could all try practicing. The frustration might cause you to start acting more like yourselves. Though I must say, I think I like the happier version of you two more,” he laughed at Richard and Tider.

  “Hey, we are always pretty happy, Mr. Connor,” Tider said, trying not to smile.

  “Yeah, I think we are very happy considering everything going on,” Richard chimed in smirking at Mr. Connor.

  “Ok, ok,” Mr. Connor said. “Let’s start practicing. Tider, I want you to go to that side of the room and try to recreate the spell you used during your practical but on a much smaller scale. It will help with your control. Richard, practice working on making your own air currents that another air elemental won’t be able to tell are not natural.”

  “How did you know I was working on that?”

  “Mr. Merrem and I talk about what lessons would be best for all of you.”

  “I didn’t realize you were a part of that too,” Richard walked over to where he was supposed to be practicing.

  “Sally, I want you to try to create the privacy bubble again, this time pulling on void too.”

  I did everything the same as before, but this time I included void. A golden-hued ball surrounded me, and I opened my eyes to look at Mr. Connor.

  “Any luck, Sally?” he asked me.

  “I think I got it,” I told him, but he shook his head at me and pointed to his ear. I quickly pushed the magic into the necklace and repeated what I had said.

  “I think you do too. Now that the spell is complete, you only need to say the correct words, and the privacy bubble will appear. You seem to be a natural at learning magic. Everything we have asked you to do, you have done with little effort once you understood what we want. I think you are just going to have to learn control and spend a lot of time studying what you can do with each element. Most kids start learning all the different ways magic can be used when they are very young. Since you didn’t get that chance, you will have to read up on a lot of it yourself. The morning classes are going to help.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by what magic could do, and he saw my confusion.

  “Did you know that your magic can do anything that you can create in your mind? It takes a lot of energy to create something, and the energy must come directly from the person creating it. The bigger and more intricate you make something the more energy it uses. I have heard that the true elementals were able to create real living things that no longer used their energy but instead created their own energy. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it’s something to think about. Having too much power can be a bad thing.”

  “Richard said something like that, but I didn’t understand him. Now I think I am starting to.”

  “That’s good because it looks like you will have more power than any of the students here. And the teachers,” he added. “You will need to learn not to use it for everything. You will need control like Richard. It is better to keep this kind of power hidden.”

  “I will,” I assured him.

  “Let’s work on something else for the rest of the class. We can work with air and water. You have a lot to learn about them.”

  He called Richard and Tider over and had them show me different ways to manipulate the elements. Richard taught me how to turn the air into a weapon, using air to slice through targets. Tider taught me to use only a handful of water to create a barrage of thin, needle-like pieces of ice to throw at someone attacking me.

  “Hey guys,” I said after learning what they taught me, “if Richard is right, I’m going to need defensive techniques not offensive. Remember, I won’t be able to use void to harm anyone.”

  “We don’t know if that’s true,” said Tider.

  “No, we don’t, but I think it’s smart to learn more defensive magic. We can work on some offensive stuff, but I want ways to protect me.”

  “Ok, we can start working on that. Remember, you can do anything you want with your powers as long as you can imagine it, and you have enough energy.”

  This was the part I was having trouble with. I couldn’t imagine doing anything with my powers because I still had trouble believing in them most of the time. I knew I needed to wrap my head around all of this and soon, or I wouldn’t be able to see my parents for Christmas. I tried to think of something I could do with air since it was the easiest for me to use, but my mind was utterly blank.

  “What you really need to have is imagination,” Mr. Connor said.

  “I don’t think I can imagine anything. This is too new for me. Besides, I’m more of a numbers and facts person.”

  “Once you get used to believing in all things magical, this will be a lot easier,” Mr. Connor said gently.

  “I know. I will try.”

  “That’s all we can ask of you.” Mr. Connor smiled, “Let’s work on a few more things before we head back to the school.”

  By the time we finished, I was exhausted. They had me try a dozen different things with air and water, but I wasn’t used to using so much magic in different ways. Mr. Connor thought I had a lot more magic in me, but because I was not fully embracing it, I was getting tired and using up more energy than I needed to.

  “I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon at the library if anyone wants to join me. I have a lot of stuff to research and not a lot of extra time to do it,” I said when we were sitting in the cafeteria.

  “What are you researching?” Abby asked.

  I looked at the guys, and they both nodded. “Can you do it, Richard?” I asked. I didn’t want to use the spell in case someone could tell it was using more than air.

  After Richard had the privacy spell in place I walked over to Abby and gave her a hug, “Richard put up a privacy shield so we can talk without anyone being able to hear us.”

  “What? How did you do that?”

  “I had to do a lot of reading before I could figure it out,” Richard said.

  “Abby, I’m going to research more about magic, specifically void.”

  She looked at me in surprise, “Do you think you have it?”

  “We know I do. We found out this morning, but I don’t want to use it until we learn everything that we can on it. Some of the stuff Richard told me is a little worrying.”

  “Like what?”

  “I have to choose to either harm people or do no harm when using void even if I’m under attack. I want to find out what exactly will happen if I hurt someone with magic. I don’t
want to use dark magic if I don’t have to.”

  “Are you sure it’s dark magic?”

  “No, but I felt what the light side of it was like, and if the dark side is the opposite, it will be very, very dark magic. I don’t even want to touch it.”

  Abby’s eyes grew wide. “That’s not good, I can come with you to help.”

  “S can I,” Tider said.

  “I can’t. I have another class to get too,” said Richard.

  “You take another class? What for?” I asked.

  “I have a class with Mrs. Shaw this afternoon to practice my earth magic. It’s pretty weak, so I’ve been trying to use it more often.”

  “I don’t think we should keep the privacy shield up too long, or someone might get suspicious when they can’t hear us talking,” Tider said, looking around.

  “I need to get to class anyway. We can talk later,” Richard said.

  Chapter Twelve

  As I walked into the library, I was again amazed at how big it was. I didn’t think I would ever get used to the sight of so many books. I sighed happily as I walked over to a bookcase and pulled out a book on fire elementals. I also grabbed a book about the other elementals, the books about void, and even one about mythical places before heading over to Abby and Tider.

  “What else are you looking for?” she asked me.

  “I’m looking for the place that the water sprites live.”

  She looked at me, surprised. “Why?”

  “I didn’t get a chance to tell you. I got a note telling me to,” I whispered. “I will tell you more when Richard is with us.”

  “Ok, I will try to figure it out too, though no one has seen them in centuries.”

  “Thanks, Abby,” I told her before opening the book on water elementals. I read through some of it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the book on void.

  I paged through the book on void and learned almost nothing. There was a lot of speculation about what a person with void magic could do, but most of it was so ridiculous that I took it lightly. At one point, the author said void magic could be used to turn rain into flower petals that fell through the air. The whole book went on like that until the last chapter, when the author’s words changed, and a strange darkness seemed to come from them.