Elementris, Exposure, Eruption Box set: The Vangeretta Curse Series

by Christina Mobley

  “So, this Lareina and me…we are the only ones in the entire world who have all the elements. If I give it up, another one will be born.”

  “Yes, if you give it up someone else will be born eventually. That’s how nature works, but who knows when or what Lareina will do in the meantime.”

  “This is too much,” Ava pressed her hands on each side of her head.

  “There’s one more thing…” Sherri forced a fragile smile, “There might be others who try to get you to give it up. They might try to persuade you before your eighteenth birthday. They could do awful things to you, so you need to be careful who you trust. No one knows who you are yet. We have made sure of that. As long as no one figures out you’re the next True Elementris before your eighteenth birthday you will be completely safe. Lareina’s Clutch came looking for you, didn’t they?”

  “Um…yeah,” she muttered trying to get her mind to slow down so she could think.

  “They didn’t see you though?” Sherri said with a cold edge in her voice.

  “No.”

  “Well,” Aunt Avalene said letting out a breath. “Luckily they didn’t find you, or see you. Lareina’s Clutch hunts down anyone using magic that’s not directly under her control. They must have followed you. The full moon is like a beacon and when we use our magic during a full moon it sends a signal to her. She sends her Clutch to find the Elementris responsible for the magic so she can rein them in or kill them. I should have told you more so you would know why I told you never to use your magic during a full moon. It’s my fault,” she looked at Sherri.

  “It’s fine Avalene, you were right to wait. They didn’t find her, and they won’t return unless she does it again. They have no way of knowing she is a True Elementris anyway.”

  “I know they don’t, but we should have been more careful.”

  Ava sat there listening to them. She thought about the guy again. “If no one knows, then who was he?” She didn’t bring it up. She felt drained and anxious. Her mind was doing circles and she wanted to be clear and understand what exactly they had just told her “So,” Ava cleared her throat, “Let me get this straight. An Elementris has the ability to control things like earth, wind, fire, and all that right?”

  “Yes.” Sherri said.

  “And I have the ability to control all of it, making me a True Elementris?”

  “Yes, exactly,” Aunt Avalene said. “An Elementris is like a part of Mother Nature; the idea of Mother Nature anyway. A True Elementris is sort of like the embodiment of Mother Nature herself. The reigning True Elementris is the most powerful and we mostly think of her as Mother Nature and ourselves as small branches of Mother Earth. So when something is off with her, it messes with the balance of things.”

  “This is so weird,” Ava shook her head.

  “You will understand more soon.” Sherri smiled “We will teach you, now that you know. If you want to learn that is.”

  “This is yours now. This is the Vangeretta family’s spell book,” Aunt Avalene tapped the book with her index finger, “Take it and put it in a safe place. Ava, you have a lot of decisions to make before you turn eighteen, but for now you have school tomorrow, so you should get some rest.”

  “School…yeah, that,” Ava muttered “and I have a couple more months before I’m eighteen anyway. I don’t know what to do but… I can’t…”

  “Don’t say it,” Sherri cut her off. “Don’t worry about it now. You need time to think and you have a while to decide and learn. You must at least try and learn and the sooner the better, but tonight you need sleep. We have waited for this day for so long. I hope you will consider it carefully before you make a decision.”

  Ava took a long breath and forced a smile; not agreeing that she would try to learn or not. “I’m tired anyway,” she lied, since she was anything but tired.

  “We will stay here tonight,” Aunt Avalene said.

  “You know where the guest blankets are,” Sherri said, then smiled, “Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast if you want.”

  “That’s okay, cereal is fine.” She pushed her chair in and turned to walk down the hall to the guest room she had stayed in so many times before. She spent half the night flipping through the book of spells. She wasn’t sure she would ever try even one, but that didn’t stop her from being curious.

  Chapter Three… (Haunting Past)

  The smell of frying bacon woke her up. She sat up, all the thoughts from last night returning to her mind at once. She remembered everything she found out and tried not to think about the decision she had to make as she pulled her jeans on. She glanced quickly at her reflection in the oval mirror, noting the puffiness under her eyes. She splashed some cold water on her face and made her way down the hall.

  Sherri was taking pancakes off the hot griddle and Aunt Avalene was pouring some coffee. The kitchen smelled like syrup and way to strong coffee. Sherri’s small kitchen was covered in roosters. Rooster tablecloth and curtains, even a rooster cookie jar that was always full. “Good morning!” they both said at the exact same time.

  “Morning,” Ava said sliding into a seat at the small table by the window.

  “Hungry?” Sherri said placing a giant stack of pancakes on the table in front of her.

  “A little.”

  Sherri looked at Aunt Avalene, their eyes sharing something briefly before they both turned back to her.

  Ava gulped a big sip of her milk noticing the small glance. “What?” she looked between both of them.

  “Nothing,” Aunt Avalene smiled “We just want you to come to us as soon as you have decided. The sooner you begin to learn, the better off you will be.”

  “Okay,” Ava said standing up.

  “You’re not going to finish your breakfast?” Sherri complained.

  “I’m not really hungry anymore and I still have to run by the house to get dressed before school.”

  Aunt Avalene smiled, “Okay, just be careful. I’ll be home when you get there this afternoon.”

  “Okay, bye.” Ava waved over her shoulder hurrying for the door. She needed more time to think about all of this. More time to understand all of this.

  Ava pulled Sherri’s door shut behind her, shaking her head. She wasn’t sure what exactly they expected of her, but it was too early to think about that anyway. She walked down the steps digging for her keys in her messy bag. She fumbled through makeup and gum wrappers before her fingers came across the fuzzy dog on her key chain. She pulled it out, walking towards her car.

  A motorcycle started across the street. Ava glanced up, squinting to look through the trees and saw it. A shiny black motorcycle, the rider dressed to match and looking straight in her direction. She couldn’t see his face. A black hat turned backwards and sun glasses camouflaged him. She stared, silently wondering if it could be him; the guy from last night. She arched her neck and squinted her eyes, trying to see his face. She could tell he had a wide jaw and a tattoo on the side of his neck, but that was it. He stared back for a few more seconds before he revved his engine and rode away.

  She ran to her car turning the key and climbing in as fast as possible. Her heart pounded as she started the car and shifted to reverse. Only she stopped before slamming her foot down on the gas. What if it wasn’t him, what if it was Lareina’s Clutch? She paused just staring after him as the black bike disappeared down the road leaving a cloud of dust on the now empty road.

  …Alec…

  Alec knew protecting Ava Vangeretta would be hard. Lareina’s Clutch would stop at nothing to find her if they figured out she was the next True Elementris. He would have to make sure they didn’t find out. His father told him how hard it would be and how important it was to protect her, but he never warned him about how much he would want her. Alec had never laid eyes on someone so beautiful. Her hair was like red fire and her eyes were as blue as cool Caribbean water. He had been watching her for a while now and had dreamed of her most of his life, but up close her beauty was raw and powerful.
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  When he was young he thought of her as just a dream girl. That was before he met her and knew that he would protect her no matter what. The warm summer breeze split on either side of his motorcycle as he drove away. He turned to look back over his shoulder to be sure she wasn’t following him; wondering how much she really knows about who she is. Last night was too close for comfort. He had never seen her use her magic, obviously he would have to find a way to watch her closer.

  …Ava…

  Ava glanced towards the kitchen window, noticing her Aunt Avalene peeking through the red curtain. She gave a quick wave and backed down the driveway. She put the car in Drive and headed towards home. She looked at the faint bruises on her wrists, the memory of how they got there still fresh in her mind. Was that him on the bike? Last night she had dreamed of him and the taste of his faint kiss still lingered on her lips. She reached up running a shaking hand over her lips. She wondered whether her heartbeat was a little faster now because of the memory of his kiss or whether it was because of the revelations about her gift.

  After finding something to wear and running her brush through her hair, she drove to Brea’s house. Ava parked in front and wasn’t at all surprised to see Brea wearing her new vintage jeans. Brea might have gotten a great deal on those ridiculous jeans, but she had no idea what it almost cost Ava. Aunt Avalene had been telling her never to use magic on the night of a full moon for as long as she could remember but she hadn’t really understood or even taken her seriously until now. It was hard to take all of Aunt Avalene's superstitions seriously, because there are so many. Sure Ava knew the magic was real, but all the other nonsense was hard to believe.

  Aunt Avalene's superstitions included things like throwing salt over your left shoulder if it spilled; making three X’s if a black cat crossed your path and always putting a penny in your left shoe for good luck. Ava had always assumed the full moon thing was just one more superstition. She never imagined that it could put her in danger.

  Brea slid into the passenger seat with a wide smile on her face. Her brown hair was piled on top of her head today and her hazel eyes were shadowed in violet eye shadow. “What do you think?” she said smoothing down a crease in her jeans.

  “I think I’m going to kill you!”

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Brea stumbled over her words.

  “Because,” Ava said as she backed out of the driveway, “Those pants of yours caused me to have one hell of a night.”

  Ava told her every detail during the ride between her house and the school. Brea seemed just as shocked as Ava felt. Ava noticed the way Brea got excited about the whole queen of the Elementris thing though and she worried that now, more than ever, Brea would try to talk her into using her gift. At school they walked through the halls together, saying nothing, each one thinking about all she had learned. The shadow of worry that lingered over Ava made her stomach bubble as walked to class.

  Inside the classroom everyone was pairing off in two’s for Ms. Bishop’s new project. Ava couldn’t even remember what it was. She slumped down in her desk at the back of the room and wished today was more of a keep to yourself and work silently day. She reached over and pulled her notebook from the desk, and peeked inside of it.

  “Are you ready,” Troy said, suddenly appearing at her desk holding his hand out.

  Ava looked up and blinked. “Did I fall asleep?” she wondered, as she stared at his extended hand.

  He smiled. “You’re with me, I drew your name…are you awake?”

  She reached out to take his hand, “I think so…”

  “Here,” he opened his palm, revealing a small slip of paper with her name on it.

  Ava jerked her hand back realizing he wasn’t extending his hand for her. He was simply showing her something. She felt her face turn red as she stood.

  “Come on,” Troy winked at her, “Our clouds will be the best.”

  “Our what?” She stood and hurried after him. “Did I hear that right?”

  “Storm clouds,” he pushed open the door, “remember we talked about it all last week; how clouds are formed and all that other stuff.”

  “Oh…right, yeah,” Ava nodded as they stepped out onto the little grassy area behind the classroom. Tables were already set up for them. Each one had a two liter bottle with a little water in it, a sheet of directions, and a box of matches sitting next to it.

  Troy touched her arm with the back side of his hand, “I’ll read the steps and you can do it.”

  She nodded and picked up the bottle.

  “Okay,” he brushed his brown hair back and began to read. “Step one, shake the bottle and then squeeze and release it.”

  “Okay,” she squeezed it and let go. “Done.”

  “Now we’re supposed to open the lid, drop a match inside and put the lid back on. We should see a cloud after we squeeze and release the bottle.”

  “Troy!” one of his friends yelled, “Come check this out.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Troy said and walked over to his friend.

  Ava set the bottle in front of her on the table and loosened the cap. She reached down for the match, but before she could do anything, something really strange happened. Inside the bottle, dark storm clouds formed and began to circle faster and faster. The bottle began to vibrate like crazy and moved across the desk and dropped to the floor. Ava stepped back, amazed.

  “What happened?” Troy said hurrying back over to her.

  Ava shook her head, hiding her shaking hands behind her back, “I, um…I dropped it.”

  Troy picked the bottle up and held it out to her, “It’s okay, we can do it again. We’re both supposed to watch anyway.”

  “No,” she kept her hands behind her back. “You do it this time; I’ll read the steps.

  “Okay,” he shrugged and took the bottle back to the table.

  The experiment went normally the second time around. Small faint white puffs of clouds formed inside the bottle after the match was dropped inside. It was nowhere near the storm in a bottle Ava had accidently created.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened and might as well have skipped the next two classes since she couldn’t remember a thing about what she was supposed to have learned. By the time her lunch period came, she had almost convinced herself that she had imagined the whole thing.

  She walked with Brea into the cafeteria, her mind still racing. She didn’t like it when things like that happened. She just wanted a normal life. She wanted a boyfriend, to graduate, and to go to college. That was more than enough pressure to deal with. She took a seat without getting any lunch and tapped her fingers mindlessly on the table. Brea came over with her tray and sat down. She didn’t even look up before stuffing a big bite in her mouth.

  “Are you okay?” Brea said after her third bite, the fourth hovering just in front of her mouth.

  “Yeah, just thinking,” Ava looked up, leaning her head on her hand.

  “I almost forgot,” Brea said suddenly, sounding excited and talking with her mouth full. “Troy Drake and Jenna Ross broke up!”

  “What? They did?” Ava finally pushed the thoughts away.

  “Yeah,” she took a big sip of her soda, “Everybody is talking about it. It happened in second period.”

  “Why did they break up?”

  Brea shrugged, “I don’t know... no one does. Of course there are rumors, everybody’s talking about it. I can’t believe you haven’t heard yet.”

  “I didn’t hear…anything.”

  “Well,” Brea turned her head slightly making a mysterious face, “I wonder if it’s because he likes you.”

  Ava rolled her eyes, “Come on Brea, that’s stupid. He barely knows me. Anyway,” she stretched the word out, “I’ve got too much going on to think about boyfriends.”

  “What about that guy?”

  Ava lowered her brows, “The one from last night?”

  “Duh.”

  “I don’t know who he is or what he is for
that matter. This is just crazy I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “You have to try,” Brea said, “at least try to learn. You should know what you’re giving up before you give it up forever. I mean Mother Nature?…that’s like…huge!”

  “What if I can’t control it or what if I mess this whole thing up? They could kill me.”

  She shrugged like it was no big deal, “that’s more the reason to learn it. If it was me, I would never clean again. I would never do homework again. Oh, and I would save the world of course,” she smiled giving Ava a quick don’t worry so much look, before taking another bite of her chicken sandwich.

  Ava was worried though. She thought about the college applications she had just sent out. She thought about the life she had imagined for herself. Having kids and getting married. Traveling around the world and just being normal. No pressure. “I don’t know,” Ava finally mumbled.

  “You’re so damn stubborn. You have this awesome gift and all you want to do is be normal. It’s crazy.” Brea shook her head and rolled her eyes.

  After school, Ava noticed a red car parked in front of her house as she pulled into the driveway. A bumper sticker on the back said “I am a proud parent of an honor student.” Not many people that Ava didn’t know visited Aunt Avalene. She parked her car wondering if this car could belong to one of the other Elementris’ in Aunt Avalene’s and Sherri’s circle.

  Ava was having trouble understanding how five people could all be born on the same day and find each other using the gift. She could not imagine being that connected to someone you didn’t even know. She kind of wished she was like them, born in a circle of five with four other people sharing your same issue. “Even in a world of magical people I’m a freak,” she thought. Why do I have to be a True Elementris? Why can’t I just be a normal Elementris?

  She walked up the steps listening for voices and heard nothing. She pushed the door open and saw her Aunt Avalene siting on one of the arched back floral chairs facing… her mother!?!