by Jae Vogel
“Always women?” Lilly asked further. “If they’re supernatural, why couldn’t they assume any form they wanted?”
“One of the great mysteries of the universe. I’ve only seen water elementals manifest as women. Same for the air elementals. Something to do with generative powers, but I don’t really know. I don’t think anyone does. When you work with elementals, there are things you don’t question so long as they give you the results you want. Since you need to be very careful when manipulating them, it doesn’t pay to toss the rule book away.”
“Since we know they’re elementals and not human,” Sean said, “we’ll be safe and not have to worry.”
“Not for the time being… “ Dion said. “Now we have to figure where the Water Elemental Grandmaster is located in this part of the mall.”
“You sure know a lot about them,” Lilly said.
“I was raised by water elementals until I was five.”
“What? I thought you had normal parents like the rest of us.”
“I did, but they needed help to raise me. Mother was busy typing up all of dad’s material and she didn’t have time to watch me all the time, so she found some water elementals to look after me until I was old enough to leave unsupervised for more than five minutes. At least that’s what they told me.”
“I thought you just said water elementals are dangerous,” Emily spoke up.
“They are to most people. But mother had two elemental manipulation powers: water and fire. She was able to bind some of the higher elementals to work for her for a limited time. When you do that, you have to give them something in return, but I don’t know what she traded to get help. All I remember are three young girls who looked after me day and night. Every time I woke one, would walk me to the bathroom or get whatever I needed. I was in the hospital when my tonsils were removed and they took turns in shifts watching after me. Mother didn’t have them out of the house much because she didn’t want the neighbors to be suspicious. We were in a middle-class suburb and no one had servants. If they saw three young girls supervising me all the time weren’t family, people would have asked questions.
“It was nice because I didn’t have to worry about ever being left alone. There was always one of them on stand-by. I dropped a crayon and one of them would pick it up. They don’t get bored and lose their attention like human girls, so there was never any worry they might ignore me.
“It’s a wonder you ever learned how to do anything on your own,” Sean said. “Did you learn to tie your shoes?”
“Yes. Mother had them show me how to do it over and over again until I got it right. As I said, water elementals don’t get bored. They took one of them to the store a few times and it turned out not to be such a good idea. They would ignore everyone else in the place except me and my parents. For some reason, mother decided they would blend in better if the ones she chose appeared to be cute, tiny little girls about sixteen to eighteen years of age. They had to be careful if they took them out because every young man in the store or restaurant would find a reason to come talk to them. They would ignore the guys, but even then, I can remember how irritated it would make the men. Plus, if I asked for something, they would get it for me. It didn’t matter if my parents had the money or not.”
“You parents took them all out at once?” Lilly asked. “I can imagine the looks all of you got.”
“No. When they did take them out, it was usually one at a time. They had a big pool in the backyard and it was alright to leave them in it. I don’t know where mother found them, but she mentioned one time they were causing a problem in a neighbor’s Olympic-sized pool at one point.
“Did they ever spank you when you did something wrong?” Sean laughed.
“No, discipline was something my mother handled. I couldn’t get away with anything because they would let her know right away.”
“So what ever happened to them?” Lilly asked.
“My parents had to get rid of them when I turned six. They tried to attack me.”
He could see the eyes widen on his friends.
“I was at the beach one day with them, playing just like we always did. Never had much trouble from the locals once they realized they wouldn’t take their attention off me. I was splashing in the water when an older woman came up and talked to them. I thought it was a little odd because even if they acknowledged someone else, one of the three had their attention focused in my direction. This time they all listened intently to what she had to say.”
“When I came out of the water, they turned and started to walk in my direction. I was scared because of the look on their faces, it didn’t seem normal and I ran. They chased after me, but a man driving a delivery truck saw them and called to me. He raced them off and they didn’t follow. He went right away to a pay phone and phoned my dad. I still think he was another element worker who recognized something. My parents came and took me home. The next day mom told me the girls were gone and would not be replaced.
I remember my parents having a big fight over it and I don’t think it was just because of the three water elementals. There was more to it and I’ve always thought it was strange the delivery truck driver, whom I never saw again, was there when it happened.
Anyway, that is my story about being raised by water elementals. I think they are unstable when it comes to humans. Too much unpredictability to make good use of them. They might look to be all happy and free, but they are still wild at heart.”
“That one beat any bad story about growing up I ever had,” Sean said. “My mother was a little nuts, but I never had to worry about a killer babysitter.”
“I’ve carefully worked with water elementals because of what happened. I still don’t know who the woman was that talked to them. I don’t know if she had some way to control them and why she would want them to harm me. I was afraid; certain they were going to kill me.”
Dion pulled the map of his jacket and began to look at it. It should tell him where the elemental grandmaster was located; he only needed a few minutes to consult it. As he began to go over the parchment and look for the location, Emily and Sean went to one side of him, right next to one of the support pillars while Lilly stayed by his side.
They obviously needed to talk.
“I don’t like it when you are looking at other girls,” Emily told Sean. “If we’re going to be together for a long time, and last night you told me you wanted to be with me, you need to give me some respect.”
Sean was silent. He didn’t know what to say. Women were such a mystery to him. Most of the time girls just avoided him. To hear one tell him that they wanted to be with him all the time was a new experience. He tried to remember how his dad met his mother and decided it wasn’t a good way to judge Emily. Instead, he tried to hug her without the rest of the mall starring at them.
Emily couldn’t understand why Sean was acting in the manner he did. She had talked to him the entire night on the way home to his house in the back of Dion’s van. She assumed he was like her dad: suffering for attention. She was ready to give it to him. Having Sean taken away as Dion dropped him off at the house was almost too much. She watched him go inside and felt part of her heart removed. It was a new sensation to be so close to someone. She knew he must feel the same way.
So why had he been so cruel and made those comments about the other girls? All right, maybe she didn’t resemble any of those bikini models, but there was nothing wrong with her body. And none of the boys she’d dated ever complained about her appearance. Emily knew how to look good. Today she’d even worn a pair of white pants because she felt Sean would appreciate it on her with the silver streaked top she’d bought last week. He should appreciate what he had by his side.
What neither of them could see was the whole person they’d melded with for a few hours the day before. Eventually the union would be gone. There would be no memory of the way both of their inner minds merged together for a brief moment when the cheerleader elementals had captured them.
But the memory of yesterday was still strong inside their hearts. Sean could still feel the loss of her mother and she the humiliation from his. They shared some pain, not a lot, but enough to bond. For a few hours after they awoke, they were ready to be married. It faded over night, but not by much. Each still felt the other close and couldn’t put a name to the sensation. So they called it love, which, given what happened, made sense.
Dion looked up from his map and saw Sean and Emily in a deep conversation. He’d expected something like this. They’d been in close proximity to the elementals yesterday and it meant their hearts merged for quite some time. At least he was able to get them away from the sylphs in time. People who were in the same situation for days could go mad as they lost sense of who they were. The ancient Greek and Roman legends were filled with stories of people who spent too much time around elementals and were never the same again. He hoped they would be able to get some perspective on what happened over time.
Poor Sean had to deal with a girl who really cared for him and had no clue how to take care of her. Poor Emily had to work with a boy who had no sense of worth and didn’t understand how she would react to his idle comments. It would be difficult, but in time, they could work it out on their own. In a small way, Dion hoped they would find the strength to stay together. So much dissolution in the world these days and it wasn’t good.
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” Sean told Emily. “I just never seem to be able to say the right thing. How can I make it up to you?”
“You will,” she said and gave him a pinch. “Just don’t do it again. My mother left because she liked the attention from other men better than the home my father provided. I guess she’s doing fine now, but it was hard for me to take. It was hard for my dad to take and he still has me around. I worry about him when I leave for college.”
“I know,” Sean said, “you still can’t get him to consider other women. I saw it yesterday and I know how you want him to get out. I guess he’ll never get back with your mom.”
“Not a chance. Just as if your mother will hound your father until the day he drops dead. I don’t know what the problem is, we seem to have endured bad mothers, but have you ever considered it wasn’t their entire fault? You blame your mother for a lot, but she did raise you to do good the best way she knew how. What do you expect from someone with her background? I’ve come to terms with my mother and her issues, you should do the same.”
The two of them held each other tightly for a while. It seemed to release much of what had happened a few minutes ago.
“Third day I’ve seen you here, Dion,” a voice said to him. “I think we have a pattern developing.”
Emily and Dion looked up to see Detective Jones from the Scipio Police standing next to them. His investigations into Dion’s uncle, who owned the mall, must’ve born some fruit if he was there already. The previous day they’d discussed mutual help, as Dion knew his Uncle Seth was behind the construction of the mall. His uncle was the one who held his parents captive inside the clock tower in the center of it. None of this information did him any good if he couldn’t find a way to use it when he found the other elemental grandmasters.
“I wish I had more information for you,” Dion told him. “But there isn’t much I’ve learned in the past twenty-four hours.”
“I’ve had some interesting developments on my end,” Jones said. “I pulled a rabbit out of the hat, so to speak.”
Jones liked to think of himself as an amateur magician. He used his tricks to build confidence with suspects. Dion had shown him a small sampling of what he could do with his abilities and they immediately struck up a friendship. Now he was investigating Dion’s uncle and wanted Dion to help. Dion was doing his best to keep the exact nature of what he knew about his uncle private.
“Is there anything you can tell me?” Dion asked. “I’m headed to a showdown with him very soon. I can’t promise when it will be, but very soon.”
Lilly stood next to Dion and didn’t say a word. She’d known Jones a long time. She knew about the investigation and how Jones wanted Dion’s help.
“He does have the federal boys interested in him,” Jones said. “I was in touch with some friends in the FBI today and they’re watching him closely. Could be very serious, this one. There is a definite link to the jewel theft I told you about yesterday. They lack evidence to pin it on him. This is why I need you to give me more information if you can find it. The thing is, I just can’t figure out why he built the mall here of all places. This area has the interstate, it’s good for traffic, but it’s still a haul for most people. I don’t see it as really turning over for another five years. He might be a big picture guy, but he doesn’t strike me as the type.”
“There is something he wants very much from this place,” Dion said. “I’m not sure exactly what it is, but he seems to think it will make him more powerful than he already is. The mall is the key to it.”
“Here? In this town. Come on, what could this little berg have that would make him a big player? They were still milking cows out here five years ago.
“What he’s trying to control doesn’t have to exist here in a way you’d recognize. All he needs is a place where he can manipulate it. From there he can pretty much do anything he wants to.”
“You make it sound like he’s building a nuclear weapon or something.”
“It wouldn’t be far from the truth.”
Jones shook his head and stepped a little closer to Dion. “You need to know the FBI is ready to turn this over to someone else. Someone else with more ammunition than they can muster. I don’t know what they’ve found in Washington, but something has scared them very badly. I know they hauled in some guy named Simon and drilled him for information. He didn’t seem to know anything, at least what they wanted to know. The feds won’t stop there. They’ll keep at it until they have decided whether or not your uncle is a threat. If they don’t think he’s a threat, I’ll get to make nice with the county and see what we can do because this place is out of my jurisdiction. If they think he’s a threat, it could get real nasty.”
“How nasty?”
“Nasty as in armored personnel carriers moving into position.”
Dion looked at the wall.
The situation with his uncle was going to get much worse before it was better. How in the world was he supposed to get his parents free if he had to worry about some massive assault from the government? It shouldn’t be a concern; his uncle could summon up forces far more terrifying than Uncle Sam. But if they were looking into his uncle’s work, they might have some idea what he was capable of doing. Perhaps there was a mystical division at the Pentagon, which looked into sinister forces from the abyss and tried to figure out what they could do against them. It wouldn’t surprise him.
“How far do you think they are from making some kind of decision?” he asked detective Jones.
“I don’t like to speculate with the feds,” he replied. “But I think they’ll make their mind up in a matter of days instead of weeks. If they think your uncle is trafficking in any kind of weapon system, they’ll start to move the minute they decide what to do.”
It was something else he had to contend with: an armed response. Dion looked around the new mall and was filled with a hideous vision of paratroopers in the parking lot and soldiers smashing in through the windows. He knew it would only come to that as a last resort, but his uncle played a dangerous game if he thought he could use the power of the abyss and no one was ever going to notice. Someone had, that was for sure.
“Just keep me informed what you learn,” Jones told Dion. “The heavy stuff may come down sooner rather than later and I want to be on top of it.”
“I will,” Dion assured him. “I do have one question though.”
“What?”
“How did you know where to find us? We were on the other side of the mall yesterday.”
Jones pointed across the hall at a bench. “He told me.” Then he
walked away.
Chapter 3
Wearing a tracksuit and holding a bottle Doctor Cola, this year’s marketable soft drink, was Edward. He had matching shoes on and a terry cloth headband around his forehead. He stood up, dropped the plastic bottle in the nearest trash receptacle and walked toward the four friends.
“I see you managed to subdue the sylphs,” he said to Dion. “I congratulate you on such ingenuity. Even with full air elemental abilities, few element manipulators would’ve understood how to handle that whirlwind.”
“Thank you. Oh, and the car key gambit worked. It took out the cheerleader elementals the moment I tossed it into their midst.”
“I used it before with other objects. Once you understand the nature of these creatures, manipulating them becomes very easy.”
“Not always,” Lilly said. “Dion just told us that his elemental nannies almost killed him when he was little.”
“I’m aware of what happened there. Did you ever talk to your parents about the incident?”
“No,” Dion said. “My father was furious over the elementals attacking me and refused to ever use them so close again. He told me they can be very unstable and you should never turn your back on them.”
“He never mentioned why the woman had given them a command to injure you?”
“I assumed it was something to do with their nature. She said the wrong thing and it created a coded message in their heads that set them off.”
“I see. And you never wondered why the truck driver just happened to be in the same location when you were forced to run?”
“I assumed he was another elemental worker and I was fortunate that he was around. He recognized what was happening and might have saved my life.”
“We need to talk about this later,” Edward told him. “I would prefer your parents talk with you about it first.”
Dion looked at him for a few seconds then allowed the line of discussion to drop. “So, Edward, you always make you appearances for a reason. What are we to learn from you this time?”