The Beginning: A Natura Elementals Novella Duology

by Sloane Calder

  He couldn’t conjure so much as a sensation of her, the rush he used to feel, the obsession with every little thing about her. He’d learned one thing in his crawl from despair: Women were a distraction.

  “I understand.” He followed Seanair and took a drink of wine, and the heavy cabernet weighed sour in his stomach.

  His twenty-fourth birthday would come along, his Alpha Fire would ignite inside him, he’d get his dad’s bonus Alpha veil, and, he thought bitterly, he’d finally lose his virginity. Goddess, he could remember when he’d wanted to fist-bump Mother Nature after learning Naturas refueled their power via sex, thinking their creator had done their race a major solid.

  Women would be a refueling port, nothing more, and he’d burn through them to stay in top form. That was all he’d allow himself.

  For now, his right hand did a fine job of quelling his baser urges. Lust was easily sated. Anything more with a woman would be a waste of time.

  Needing to appear interested, he sat up straighter and held his gaze on the map. Better look alive, show a little enthusiasm. Repentant Boy needed to appear dutiful and earnest.

  “Antarctica has a leader?” He lifted the goblet, took another drink, and savored the burn trail down his throat.

  The faintest hint of a smile tugged at Seanair’s mouth.

  “My counterparts write off Isidora, but the first rule of Naturas? Watch the loners.” Seanair paused at the servants’ arrival. An artfully arranged salad replaced the empty plates before them. “In two days, you’ll join the newest members of Elite One. Your mornings will be spent in study of the Naturas’ global network. We’ll begin with Australia, since that continent has the least number of issues and is the easiest to manipulate.”

  “Australia has fewer issues than Antarctica?” The question slipped out, his brain still confused why a continent with so few of the world’s residents would have a leader.

  “When your home is melting around you, I’d call that a problem of great urgency.”

  Right. Australia, then. Beaches, kangaroos, and meat pies?

  “Your afternoons will be spent in advanced training. You’ll learn the aces up every element’s sleeve and how to combat them. There’s a war coming, and as you once promised, you will be my very best weapon.”

  The leaden glob in his throat plummeted to his stomach.

  “It’ll be an honor to defend your interests.” He took a fork in hand and stabbed a precisely placed carrot.

  The salad fork. Outer left. Then, the dinner fork. Then, dessert.

  Start out, and move in with each course, and chew with your mouth closed. His mother’s voice echoed in his head, softer than it used to be, fading like everything else from his old life.

  He continued to eat, keeping his eyes on his plate, holding the fork just as his mother had taught.

  The fire beside him crackled and popped, calling to the ripening flame within him.

  One day. One faraway but fateful day. He would take that cuff. Avenge his father’s death. Restore honor to his family’s name.

  And destroy everything Seanair held dear.

  ~The End~

  Download The Call of Fire, where tempers flare and sparks fly when Aleron meets the love of his life, Elspeth Lennox.

  Queens of the Stone Age—No One Knows

  Chevelle—The Red

  Korn—Here to Stay

  Weezer—Hash Pipe

  Nickleback—How You Remind Me

  Linkin Park—In the End

  Cake—Short Skirt / Long Jacket

  Godsmack—Awake

  Godsmack—Greed

  To Steve

  My ride or die.

  I love you.

  To Paula

  For taking this journey with me.

  You are a unicorn.

  We all love ourselves more than other people,

  but care more about their opinion than our own.

  ~Marcus Aurelius

  Savannah, GA—Lennox Farms

  Elspeth’s Power Reveal Party

  Elspeth didn’t believe in fairy tales. How could she? Her parents were killed when she was two. Her beloved Mathair died six months ago, leaving her devastated and turning Seanair from her loving guardian into a cold, distant, grumpy grandfather.

  But the Goddess would finally shine on her, and it was going to be tonight.

  Tilting her head back, she took in the moonlit sky, praying her stars would align. The laughter and clamor of five hundred guests charged the air with the excitement of midnight’s approach. The decorations were the best money could buy, as befitted a Lennox. Round tables were draped in the family plaid, the priceless china and stemware were precisely set, and the profusion of flowers in vases of the finest crystal didn’t dare have the slightest blemish. Tiki torches and lights strung in the trees lining the gardens created the perfect ambience. Beta-level Natura attendants served champagne and canapés to the adults and sherbet punch to the kids.

  It was time. Time to find out what she was. Her heartbeat had climbed into her throat when her brother’s cell phone read 11:45. She could almost count the seconds now.

  Midnight. A shooting star. And an answer.

  Finally.

  She put a foot on the first of the steps leading up to the dazzling stage and stopped. A peculiar numbness pushed through her. A muting. As if her jitters had been scattered.

  “Something wrong?” Lach glanced down at her. The tight beard her oldest brother sported had earned him a disapproving eye from their grandfather, but the look suited him. He was far from the polished playboy he portrayed, and even at twelve, she knew his clean-cut looks hid his wild, unspoiled heart.

  “I just hope whatever happens tonight makes Seanair happy. I miss Mathair so much, but I miss my Grandie too. It’s like he died with her.”

  Her grandfather used to have the best laugh, booming and low, the sound vibrating through her. The man who’d walked out of Mathair’s memorial service didn’t smile anymore. Didn’t invite her for ice cream in the study. Didn’t take walks with her through the Garden District. Didn’t take her for rides in his old Porsche with the top down.

  “Seanair will love whatever you are. He’s all about power, and I’ll bet you’re going to be this family’s rock star.” Lach gestured toward the massive throne at the center of the dais, the gold leaf in the intricate carving twenty-four karat. “Remember, you’ll walk out with me following you, and Graham will come from the other side, bringing the Lennox vestment. I’ll put the stole around your neck, and you’ll stand there until Seanair gives the nod for us to seat you.”

  “The clock will chime at midnight, the star will pass overhead, and I’ll know.” The odd numbness lifted, and giddiness radiated inside her. Her twelfth birthday was finally here. She’d love to be the one to put a smile back on her grandfather’s face, to make his heart a little less heavy with grief.

  “It’s no secret you’re his favorite.” Lach slung his arm around her neck and kissed the top of her hair.

  Mathair had said the same thing, which didn’t seem fair since both Lach and Graham did everything their grandfather asked, just like she did. Though nothing alike and eleven months apart in age, her brothers could do no wrong. Even Graham. Who’d caught both the garage and the barn on fire with his chemistry experiments. She leaned against Lach, wishing there weren’t eight years between them, but at least she’d see him more when she started boarding school in New York next year.

  “I want to be a Fire and Air, just like you.” She snuggled beneath the arm she’d sheltered under for as long as she could remember. “Wherever our parents are, I want them to be proud of me.”

  She didn’t think of them often. Why lament the loss of two people who’d died before her second birthday? She stifled the thoughts of her recently deceased grandmother, the wound too fresh for the woman who’d raised her. Naturas didn’t get diseases, but their hearts could fail. She understood Mother Nature implanted the Natura seed in mortal bodies since they had
to live and work alongside unsuspecting humans. Still, it seemed unfair they should be saddled with their bodies’ shortcomings.

  Especially since the job of the Naturas was to fix the environmental problems humans caused.

  She tried to will herself to stay positive. So what if her insides shook like maracas? She had reason to be nervous. No one could sit on a pedestal, their feet dangling, five hundred people staring, and not worry about fainting or peeing their pants. She’d do neither. She’d accept her power with dignity and grace, while screaming on the inside. Possibility sizzled inside her. Her brothers were both dual Fire and Airs, just like Seanair.

  Why was she worried? With her family’s legacy, her destiny was kickass power.

  “Listen to me, my sweet letter E.” He grasped her shoulders, using the nickname he’d used since her Sesame Street days. “The Goddess will bless you because of who you are. She gives no celestial shits about you being a Lennox. She wants your trust and a commitment to fix what the humans mess up. That’s it.” He cocked an all-knowing brow. “Enjoy these last few minutes of not knowing. Once the star passes over, and your elements identify, all you’ll do is study. Believe me, it’ll take you twelve years to learn everything you need to know to avoid an elemental apocalypse when your powers activate at twenty-four.”

  Laughter and raucous voices charged the night air. Being the granddaughter of the North American continent leader and Fire Magnus had gotten her a lengthy guest list of Alpha-powered partygoers, but none were here for her. She’d had a few witch friends from school she’d wanted to invite, but Seanair’s hospitality didn’t extend to the coven classes, and his harsh and scornful “no” had stung. Rachel and Sam were the only two people at school who sat with her at lunch.

  An army of Beta staff standing at attention behind the torches stepped forward to snuff them out simultaneously. The lights in the trees went out. Excitement bubbled through her like shaken Coke, but the dramatic darkness made her stomach roller coaster drop. Lach offered his arm, and she took it, thanking the Goddess she’d been too excited to eat dinner. If she’d snagged a finger sandwich or another of the gazillion hors d’oeuvres continually being refreshed, she’d be adding vomiting to fainting and peeing.

  “We should head up. You have two minutes.” He kissed the side of her head. “Let’s see what the stars bring.”

  “Okay.” The word barely got past the clog of anxiety and excitement plugging her throat.

  The stage glowed in a blanket of moonlight. The crowd hushed and silenced. She looked over the masses, all of them facing her, each family standing together, their sashes draped around their necks.

  A gentle breeze blew, catching in the trees and rustling in the evergreen pines. Her heart thudded so hard she wasn’t cold even on a January night in South Georgia. Footsteps came from her left. Graham stopped short of the chair and handed Lach the vestment. He draped it around her neck, and she pulled her hair free. As they’d practiced several times too many, they each took one of her hands and guided her to her seat, then returned to stand offstage.

  She gripped the armrests and stared up at the coal-black sky. Some tiny stars sat there, shining like the plastic glow-in-the-dark ones on her bedroom ceiling. A few even twinkled, teasing her as if they could sense the arrival of the shooting star. She risked a glance into the crowd, sensing their gazes shifting from her to the sky and back. They knew better than to speak, the moment a sacred one of anticipating the glitter of stardust, waiting to see how Mother Nature would richly bless her.

  She looked up into the ruthless night, closed her eyes, and prayed like never before.

  Please, if I can’t be a Fire and Air like my brothers, let me be an Earth. I like plants and flowers. I don’t like rain, so no Water, okay?

  She popped open an eye and dared a look upward, shutting it immediately.

  “Blessed be,” she whispered so only she could hear. How could she ask for something and not show proper respect?

  Goddess, she always forgot something.

  The clock chimed. Twelve. Times. The last tone vibrated inside her.

  The wind didn’t blow. The trees didn’t move. The night stood deathly still.

  She sat. Opened her eyes and watched the sky. Waited.

  The murmuring started. What’s happening? Something’s wrong. Surely, she’s not…one of them. She caught a few fist-over-mouth silent snickers at the tables closest to the stage. Her gaze locked with the cutest boy ever, Eamon McCarthy, who’d just found out he was an Earth a week ago. He gave her a soft, it’ll-be-okay smile, and like always, her heart fluttered.

  A hazy cloud drifted across the moon, and a white haze illuminated the guests. Five hundred sets of eyes watched her. Heads turned. Shoulders subtly hunched.

  “You’re a dud,” mouthed her jerk cousin, Kerr, at the front table.

  Her cousin’s twin, Flora, elbowed him and looked to Lach’s side of the stage and widened her eyes.

  A throat cleared. Elspeth looked automatically to the sound, to Seanair. Her insides seemed to shrivel, her chest hollowing, throat closing. Her grandfather’s eyes lit a glacial blue, just a flash, like a lighter flicked and extinguished. His gaze drew down her and up, only once, and slid to where her brothers stood in the shadows.

  Please, Great Mother. I’ll use my power for good. I promise. Forget my earlier request. I’ll be whatever you want—even a Water. Please, please, please. Send the star. Awaken what lies dormant within me.

  A breeze tore across the stage. Hair whipped across her face and stuck in her lip gloss. In the distance, a stretch of thunder rumbled, long and low. Lightning flashed in the sky twice, three, four times like a car’s headlights.

  The world went silent. Guests’ mouths moved. Heads turned. People shifted, looking around in confusion. Her heart began to thud, the thumps building to kicks.

  Please. I’m begging you. Bless me, Mother. Make me powerful like my family.

  Seanair tipped his head, the barest get-her-off-that-stage movement. Time slowed. Guests milled about, moving toward the exit and the valets. Muffled laughter cut through the chill.

  The lights came back on in the trees, the ambience no longer beautiful. Harsh spotlights beamed on the dais. She caught sneers on some of the guests’ faces, pity on others’. Each was a hornet sting on her heart.

  She’s nothing.

  Bless her heart. To be a dud. And from such a good family.

  Dud. Dud. Dud.

  Lach took her hand and ushered her toward the steps. “C’mon. It’s all right.”

  The clap of her patent shoes split the silence.

  “What’s wrong? Why didn’t anything happen?” She pulled him to a stop at the top of the stairs, sure her legs would give out if she moved another inch.

  He leaned into her sight line. “You’re Passive.”

  No way. That was an old wives’ tale.

  “I’m not an Alpha, like you and Graham?”

  “Let’s talk about this somewhere else.” He led her down the stairs and around the back of the stage.

  “Stop.”

  She jerked at her grandfather’s voice. Quick, sharp footfalls came up behind her. Lach took her hand.

  “It’ll be fine, Elspeth.” Graham came to her other side.

  “It most certainly will not.” Shadows cut across Seanair’s face, lighting his eyes and the flare of his nose. “Give me your vestment.”

  Wait. Her whole family wore theirs to every major Natura event. In the holiday card picture. Her cousins all had one.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Her body shook, her breath short and shallow. “I want to keep it, Grandie.”

  “Do not call me that. Vestments are only for the Alpha-powered.” Seanair shoved out a hand.

  “Seanair.” Lach stepped forward. “Don’t.”

  “One more word from you, boy,” Seanair’s gaze sliced to Lach, “and I will hurl you into the next county.”

  Hurl? Like with his Air element?

/>   “Here.” She took the red wool plaid stole from around her neck, almost dropping it her hands shook so badly.

  “At least we can be grateful you weren’t born with the mark of a witch.” Seanair tore the vestment from her grasp. “You still have some use to this family, but until I arrange your marriage, stay out of my sight until you are called.”

  Not giving her a second glance, Seanair headed toward the manor house.

  He was done with her. Done. He’d disowned her with not even the courtesy he gave to his staff.

  All because Mother Nature hadn’t bestowed a blessing, but a curse.

  Her knees hit the sharp, dead grass. “He hates me.”

  “Come on, baby girl. Come on.” Lach helped her up and looked to Graham. “I got this. Go spy on Seanair and see what he does. One of these days, I’m going to kill that asshole.”

  “Not if I do it first,” Graham swore.

  She watched her quiet brother’s retreat and turned to the one seething like he was full of flames. “You guys shouldn’t say that.”

  “You don’t know Seanair like we do.” Lach pulled her toward a large copse of trees, and she wondered if it was because he didn’t want to be seen with her. She didn’t dare ask. Losing Lach would be worse than this awful evening.

  Her grip tightened as he pulled her along. “What did I do wrong? Why is the Goddess mad at me?”

  “Mother Nature’s a bitch.” He stomped through the thick, dry grass, his shoulders rigid, his breath harsh.

  “Lach.” Again, she pulled him to a stop. “Don’t say that, or She won’t change Her mind. If I don’t have power, I don’t count. I can’t be nothing. I’ll be like a…a human.” Tears flooded her eyes. Her head dropped forward, and her shoulders shook with a sob. “They made fun of me—some of the kids. A Lennox can’t be a nothing. Seanair glared like he hates me.”

  “Seanair can go fuck himself.” Lach gripped her shoulders. “Look at me, E. Come on, girly. Let me see that sweet face.”