Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  “We need to do this together,” I said. “He’s too strong.”

  “On three,” Richard said. “One, two, three,” we all pushed our powers right at Mr. Damon. Tider threw jagged fragments of ice that spun in all directions, and Richard used wind to push the pieces even faster. I called water to create a barrier behind him so he wouldn’t get away. I didn’t want him to get killed, but I also didn’t want to be killed or kidnapped.

  Mr. Damon threw up a shield to block against the ice, but he couldn’t stop it all. I saw him flinch as a few pieces got past his barrier and cut him. I could see blood dripping from his face, and he looked as surprised as I felt. Tider and Richard had managed to hurt him. They were stronger working together than Mr. Damon. Maybe we had a chance after all.

  “Quick, we need to push him towards the ground. Gary is waiting for us. He can help hold him,” I said.

  We tried using our powers to grab Mr. Damon. I made coils of water with Tider, and Richard used air ropes, but each time we thought we got one on him, he would use his own magic to break free. We had only managed to pull him a few feet when he suddenly burst up through the ropes and flew across the sky. He stopped as we went after him and put his hands up. It looked like he chanted something. The air shimmered, and he disappeared.

  I looked down and saw that the rest of the Pulhu were still trapped below us. All except the two that had shown up with Mr. Damon.

  “Where did they go?”

  “I don’t know. I thought we had them trapped,” Richard said.

  We landed on the ground next to Abby and Gary. Abby was bent over somebody, and as I came around her, I saw it was Adam. He was covered in cuts and bruises.

  “Will he be ok?” I asked Abby as she healed him.

  “Yes, though it will take a few weeks. I’ve healed all the biggest wounds. I’ve used up all my energy,” she said after many of his wounds healed.

  “Are you able to walk now, Adam?”

  “Yes, but what are we going to do about all these guys?”

  “I will take care of it,” Gary stepped away and opened his phone.

  “The rest of the security will be here in a few minutes, and they will deal with this. We will wait for them. We have a transporter on hand. She will take you back to the haven.”

  “You have a transporter, and you didn’t tell us. We didn’t need to do this hike every time?” Abby asked.

  Gary laughed, “She just got back from another important mission, so she’s pretty worn out already. She agreed to transport you guys because of how much activity you are attracting. But after that, she’s probably going to be out for at least a week.”

  “What’s a transporter?” I asked.

  “It’s someone who has the ability to transport people anywhere they want to go. It’s rare, and transporters are massively protected. The Pulhu would love to get their hands on them. Thankfully, only one or two work with the Pulhu. The rest work for us.”

  We followed him down the hill and met up with everyone else. Gary took us right to an older lady who wore a frown.

  “Are these the ones I need to transport?” she asked.

  “Yes, they need to get to the haven right away.”

  “Come on, kids,” she said. “I only have enough energy to get you all back to the haven. Sorry, Gary, but I can’t take you too.”

  “That’s ok, I have stuff to do here anyway. I’ll see you back at the haven. Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

  “We won’t,” I assured him.

  “Alright, everyone, grab hands so I don’t lose anyone, and whatever you do, don’t open your eyes or let go.”

  I grabbed Richard’s hand and Abby’s hand and watched as everyone else did the same, including Adam. I closed my eyes and it felt like the ground fell out from under me. I felt Abby try to let go of my hand and gripped her tighter. I couldn’t open my mouth to say anything as wind tore through my hair.

  I clasped their hands tighter and squeezed my eyes shut until I felt the ground come up to meet me again. I fell to my knees and carefully opened my eyes. I still didn’t let go of my friends. I wanted to make sure we were safe first. I looked around and saw that we were right outside the haven. We had all fallen to our knees, and Abby and Tider both looked sick.

  “Sorry, kids. It’s a tough first ride. Come on. We need to get in the haven. I can only transport right outside of it. We have protections up so the Pulhu can’t transport inside, but it keeps us from doing it too,” the transporter said.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  My mom and dad came running over to me and scooped me up into their arms. “Are you ok? They told us what happened and that you were being transported back here.”

  “I’m fine, mom. We all are,” I told her.

  She looked over my friends, and her eyes landed on Adam whose clothes were still covered in blood, “Oh my goodness, are you ok?” she asked him.

  “I’m fine,” he assured her as healers rushed up to check us over.

  “We haven’t met you yet,” my dad said.

  “I’m Adam, a friend of Sally’s,” he shook their hands.

  More people kept arriving, and soon a large circle of people were surrounding us, asking lots of questions about what happened and why the Pulhu were after us.

  The leaders of the haven pushed their way through, and I was surprised to see Mrs. Sullivan with them,

  “Everyone, go back to your day. These kids need to rest. We will find out what happened and let you know. Until then there is nothing to worry about. You are safe here.”

  “Mrs. Sullivan, how did you get here? Why are you here?” I asked.

  “After I heard what happened, I came immediately to make sure you were ok. You’ve had a lot of excitement,” she said, looking us over. “Why don’t you get cleaned up, and we will meet in an hour to hear what you have to say?”

  We agreed and made our way to our rooms to get ready. My parents were reluctant to let me out of their sight, but I promised them I would be safe in my room taking a shower. I told them to come back in half an hour, and then we could talk for a few minutes before we had to meet Mrs. Sullivan. As much as I wanted to spend time with my parents, I really needed to get the blood and sweat off of me.

  I went directly into the bathroom and started to take off my clothes. When I was taking off my shirt, I noticed a couple rips in the fabric. I checked the rest of my clothes and saw the same thing. Around each tear in the fabric was a thin smear of red. It had to be blood. I was getting cut up in our battle. I didn’t notice, and I must have healed really fast.

  After a long shower, I felt more like myself. My friends were already waiting for me, and we sat down to talk about what we were going to say.

  “We can’t tell anyone about the elementals,” I quickly said. Everyone agreed.

  “Let’s tell them we went to the lake and were swimming when we met Adam. Then when we were leaving, the Pulhu showed up and chased us. It’s close enough to the truth that no one should question us,” Richard said.

  “What about Gary?” Abby asked. “He knows what happened.”

  “I already talked to him. I called him before I got in the shower to make sure we were all saying the same thing. He agreed not to tell anyone about the elementals. He doesn’t want the Pulhu getting that information, and he doesn’t trust everyone in the haven after the Macie incident.”

  “Good.”

  “I’m going to see my dad before we meet Mrs. Sullivan,” Abby said, heading for the door.

  “Of course Abby. Let us know if it works. Our fingers are crossed,” I really hoped the cure worked so she could get her dad back. “You’ll have to find us. We will talk to the council first. That way you have more time.”

  “Thanks,” Abby darted away.

  “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Abeneb,” I heard her say as she left the room.

  I turned towards the door, “Hi, Mom and Dad.” I walked over to give them a big hug.

  “The Pulhu want you ba
dly, Sally. We want to know why.”

  I hung my head. I really couldn’t lie to my parents. “I can’t tell you everything, or they could use you against me. Please don’t ask me to. The Pulhu think I’m super powerful and want me on their side or out of the way.”

  “You are going to do things that are dangerous, aren’t you?” Dad asked. “I know you, and you won’t let someone do something bad without a fight. Sally, please let people with more training handle this.”

  “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m going to stay safe in the haven and the school for a while. This was too much excitement for me,” I smiled at him.

  He gave me a hug and smiled sadly, “You aren’t going to stay safe there forever, are you?”

  “No, I’m not. I’m sorry, dad. It has to do with the stuff I can’t tell you about. Trust me. If I didn’t have to do it to keep myself and other people safe, I wouldn’t. You know I don’t like to do anything dangerous without a good reason.”

  “I know. That’s why your mother and I trust you. Otherwise, I would keep you locked up right here with us. Promise you will try to be safe.”

  “I will, and besides, I have my friends with me.”

  “Yes, you do. All of you need to stay safe,” Dad told us. Mom came over and gave me a hug.

  “You need to get down there now, or you will be late,” she said. “We will see you when you’re all finished.”

  I walked down to the council room with my friends. Everyone was already there.

  “Where is Abby?” asked Mrs. Sullivan.

  “She went to see her father,” I told her. “She should be down soon.”

  “I see,” Mrs. Sullivan smiled. “Richard, I sent you over here to help protect Sally, and I see that you were needed. Can you please tell us what happened.”

  Richard explained everything to the council without interruption. When he got to the part about Mr. Damon, they all leaned forward, listening intently. Once he finished, they asked a bunch of questions. Then they turned their attention to Adam.

  “You have been missing for months. How did you get here?”

  “I have no idea. I remember going to the bay to look at the ruins, and then there was nothing but darkness. When I finally came around, Sally and her friends were surrounding me asking if I was ok. I was hoping you could explain what happened to me,” he said. It was a good idea to ask them, they would be trying to figure out what had happened instead of questioning him more.

  Abby burst in the door with a big smile on her face. “Abby, come sit down, we were just going over what had happened. Is your father ok?” asked Mrs. Sullivan.

  “He is doing great,” I could tell she wanted to say more, but she couldn’t. There was no explanation for how she had gotten the potion, so she had given it to him in secret. Hopefully, they would think one of their healers fixed him. “He seemed much better. Whatever you are doing for him must be working.”

  “That’s wonderful, dear,” an older lady on the council smiled at Abby.

  “Everyone has already gone over everything, Abby. Was there anything you would like to add? Anything you can think of that your friends may have forgotten?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “Most of the time, I was with Sally or Gary. I’m not very strong in magic.”

  “Then I think we can end this meeting. Does anyone else have anything to say?”

  I stood up, “I actually wanted to ask you something, Mrs. Sullivan.”

  “What would you like to ask, Sally?”

  “Can Adam come back to the school with us? If he wants to? He was a big help during the fight, and if he has more training, he would be even better.” I looked at Adam. I hadn’t asked him about coming back to the school. I thought of it while we were sitting here.

  “If you want to,” I said to him.

  He looked at me and then all of our friends, “I think I would like that. I probably need more training. I was the most beat up of all of us. I would like to be able to take better care of myself if anything like that ever happens again.”

  “Let’s hope it never does,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “I would love to have you at our school if you want to come, and if it’s ok with your grandfather. He will be here soon, and you can talk to him about it then.”

  “Thanks,” Adam looked excited, and I hoped he would be able to come with us. I was sure Chet couldn’t wait to see him and would want to spend some time with him first, though. For Adam, it had only been a few days, but for Chet, it had been months of worrying.

  “You are free to go, but you can’t leave the haven. Let’s not take any more chances. Ok?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Sullivan,” I told her.

  “Sally, you will be leaving in three days to come back to school. We have a transporter who is going to take you directly there, that way the Pulhu won’t have a chance to get to you. I will be going back with you too. Everyone else, I will see you at school in a few days,” Mrs. Sullivan dismissed us, and we walked out.

  “That was a lot easier than I expected,” I said.

  “Yeah, it was almost like Mrs. Sullivan knew we had done something, and she didn’t want the rest of the council to find out,” Richard said.

  “She might know. Mr. Magni said she thinks I’m the one from the prophecy too. She may have expected something to happen, which would explain why she sent you out here to help me.”

  “If she doesn’t trust the council, then we probably shouldn’t either. The fewer people we trust, the better chance that no one finds out anything we don’t want them to know,” Tider said.

  “I agree,” I said. “I’m going to find my parents and hang with them for a while,” I told them.

  “Me too. I want to spend time with my dad now that he is normal again,” Abby said.

  “Be careful, and no leaving the haven,” Richard called after me.

  “See you later,” Tider and Adam called.

  I headed right for the dining room, where my parents said they would meet me. I grabbed some food and turned to look for them. They were waiting at one of the tables. I walked over and gave them both a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for being the best parents ever,” I said.

  “What’s that for?” mom asked.

  “Everything. I know this has been a crazy year so far, and you’ve supported me through all of it. I appreciate it,” I told them.

  “We will support you through whatever you need. As long as you aren’t doing anything illegal, of course,” mom laughed.

  “I wouldn’t ever,” I laughed too.

  They knew me so well. My parents were my rock, and I was going to enjoy spending time with them. The next few days went by in a blur. I spent most of the time with my parents, but occasionally I would see one of my friends and chat with them for a few minutes.

  Chet came up to talk to me the day before I left. He walked right up and wrapped me in a big hug.

  “Thank you for finding him,” he whispered. “He told me everything once he was sure you had already told me who you were. Without you, he would probably still be stuck there.”

  “I’m glad I was able to help. I hope you don’t mind that I asked if he could come back to school with us.”

  “I already told him I think it’s a good idea. If I had forced him to go to the haven school, he might have been able to get away himself.”

  “Did he say he wants to come?” I really wanted him to back to the school. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew we were going to need him.

  “Yes, he did. That’s why I’m here today. I’m dropping off his stuff. He’s going to fly out with the other two boys, Richard and Tider, this afternoon.”

  “I forgot that they are leaving today. I don’t leave until tomorrow.”

  “Come visit me anytime you’re in the area or let me know, and I’ll come here,” Chet gave me one last hug and headed off to find Adam.

  “Who was that?” my parents asked, coming up behind me.

  “That was Chet, Adam’s grandfather.”

  “He look
ed pretty happy with you.”

  “He thinks it’s because of me that Adam was found.”

  “And was it because of you?”

  “Maybe,” I told them. They were still gently probing for information, but only if I willingly gave it. One day I would tell them the whole story, but not until I was sure they would be safe.

  “Let’s go enjoy the rest of the evening. You will be leaving tomorrow after breakfast, so this is our last night for a while,” mom said.

  We spent the evening watching movies and eating pizza and snacks. I didn’t want to leave my parents, but I wanted to get back to school. I had a lot more to learn if I was going to be able to beat the darkness. In the morning, I got everything ready before heading down to breakfast.

  I met my parents, and we had a nice breakfast before we walked to the front of the haven.

  “I love you, Mom and Dad,” I said, giving them a big hug.

  “We love you too. Be good at school and stay safe. Make sure you call us every night.”

  “Don’t worry, I will. I’m going to miss you guys,” my mom had tears in her eyes, and so did I.

  “Come on you two. No crying or you’ll make me cry, and then how am I going to be able to work with everyone. They’ll think I’m a big blubbering mess,” Dad tried to make me smile.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I laughed.

  Mrs. Sullivan walked up with a man I hadn’t met before, “Mr. and Mrs. Abeneb, Sally, this is Jordan, our transporter. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Sullivan,” I told her.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Jordan,” my parents said hello. They told me they loved me one more time before I grabbed Jordan and Mrs. Sullivan’s hands and shut my eyes. This time I was ready for the ground to drop out from under me. I kept my eyes closed and waited for everything to stop spinning. When it did, I was in front of the school. I was surprised that this time, I stayed on my feet.

  We walked into the school, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt safer here than anywhere else. “Thanks, Jordan,” I told him.